Therapy Isn't A Matchmaking Service, Kids
by ChrissyForestChat
Summary: At seven/eight years old, Bakugou Katsuki has anger problems, Midoriya Izuku has dealt with bullying for years, and Todoroki Shouto can't talk to other kids for the life of him (nor can he discuss half his body). These kids need some help. And friends. Very eventual polyamory, mostly a friendship fic. Crossposted from ao3, which has more chapters as of right now.
1. No Filter Works For Therapy, Not Friends

Inko might have been a bit of a little bitch, but regardless, she was a little bitch Mitsuki was ecstatic to see again.

If only to tell her "I'd told you so" about that shitty husband of hers.

"I've gotta go, Masaru," Mistuki said, watching as Midoriya Inko made her way into the quaint tea shop. "Inko is here and I need all the time and brainpower I have with her if I want to convince her to give Katsuki and Izuku a chance to 'make friends,' as you put it."

"Good luck, dear. Make sure you grab-" Mitsuki hung up, she knew to grab the pork on the way home, and he'd text her a reminder anyway. She sat in impatient silence as Inko ordered from the counter, and as soon as she saw the credit card handed back to her, she waved her arm in big arks as she called out, "Yo! Inko, over here dipshit!"

She sees Inko wince, but only giggles herself at the discomfort the other must feel from her language. It's not like Inko hasn't known her for 18 years, she knew what she was walking into when she contacted Mitsuki for tea. Mitsuki could feel her customary grin twitching her lips as she watched her college friend slip into the chair before her with her habitual jitters still shaking her hands, Inko's grin a subdued but pleasing sight.

"Hello, Mistuki. I'm glad to see you're doing well."

"Oh, cut the crap Inko. We spoke over the phone not even a week ago, what could have changed?" Yet as Inko began to open her mouth to respond, likely with some long, never-ending anxiety induced list of exactly how many things could have gone wrong, Mitsuki leaned over to cover her mouth with a sigh. "Yes, yes, everything could have, I know. Anyway, what're you doing back?"

Inko beamed, "We moved back into the area!" She deflated, then, "Well, Izuku and me, Hisashi still hasn't shown his face since Izuku's fifth birthday." Despite the melancholy sigh that followed her words, she still held a bright smile that Mitsuki felt confident was real.

"Well, I warned you, didn't I? Asshole always run away from what considered problems." At Inko's smiling straining, she continued with, "His family should never have been one of in the first place, though. That's why he's a real prick."

Inko gave a bitter laugh, "Well, he had some reason to consider us that way, I guess. But enough about me, what about you? Last time we got together you'd gotten a promotion and Katsuki had just turned 2, right?"

Mitsuki's grin turned a bit tired, noting in the back of her mind to press Inko for details after offering up some information herself, "Yeah, I've gotten a few more since. Not top of the company, nowhere near, but close enough for some better pay."

"Congratulations!"

"Yeah, yeah, thanks I guess. Masaru's the same as always, too kind for me and always buying just enough wine to keep me sane but sober." Inko laughed at this, and it lifted Mitsuki's spirits a touch even though she knew the rest of the conversation would be draining to her.

"Our boy Katsuki… He's a character, for sure. His birthday's in a few weeks, and we're still not sure what we're doing for it. We're thinking sending him to his grandma's would be best he likes it there and there's no way he'll get into any fights with some kid's down there." She sighed, her chin leaned into her hand as she blew ripples on to her tea.

"Fights?" Inko asked, curiosity that Mitsuki knew she had to satisfy if she wanted to escape constant calls over the next few days.

"He's takes a little too much after me," she sighed. "Arguably he's even worse. Fuse is shorter than a match. All it takes is accidental eye contact and he's ready with fists sparking," she sighed again, thinking back to the latest Parent-Teacher meeting she had been roped into. "The teachers' are pushing me to get him into some kind of therapy, one of them even gave me the contact information for some sort of children's group therapy. They think part of why he's so stand-offish is because he hasn't connected with any of the other kids, but I'm just not sure how much good it'd really do, you know? Therapy typically works better for more effeminate people and that's… not Katsuki. He doesn't do emotions."

She looked up at Inko again, surprised to see a glittering but contemplative face instead of the sympathetic one she expected. They sat in silence a few moments before Inko spoke up, "Izuku… He's been having a difficult time with the kids at his schools. Ever since we were confirmed he was quirkless he-"

"Wait," Mitsuki ordered. "Izuku is quirkless?"

Inko winced and nodded, "It's not something we like to advocate, since he himself can hardly stand the fact, let alone all the bullying he's faced because of it."

"I'm so sorry Inko, I…" She felt speechless. She hadn't ever encountered someone with a child Katsuki's age who was quirkless. She grimaced, then, "It's probably not a good idea that Katsuki and him meet then… He's not the best with handling people's emotions in the first place, and quirks are immensely important to him…" She wasn't sure how to phrase, 'My son would very probably beat yours to a pulp,' delicately.

Inko's lips pursed as she said, "They're important to everyone, Mitsuki... Even to those who don't have them." She sighed, twisting her hands in her lap. "As for if they meet… I want them to." She held up her hand to cut off Mitsuki's protests, indicating she hadn't finished her proposition. "This group therapy thing… The teachers at Izuku's last school had pushed for him to be placed in therapy too, in order to counter the effects the bullying would have on his self-esteem, and hopefully get him to open up more. I had been considering it, but they never suggested a location to try out."

Mitsuki waited, breathing shallow. She had an inkling as to what Inko was about to ask, but she was determined to let her finish on her own. Inko sat up straighter as she said, "It seems as though both of our sons need help. I'm willing to put Izuku into the same therapy as Katsuki, despite the risks, in order to see if they can help each other out." Inko smiled then, her lips as nervous and cheerful as they have been since the day they met, "Izuku is quite similar to me. If Katsuki's anything like your rude and brutal self, then perhaps they'll get along like we did, yes?"

Mitsuki frowned, "I'm just not… Katsuki is the most head-strong person I've ever met, and I've been in front of the mirror a lot. If the therapy is to help Izuku with bullying, then throwing another bully into therapy might not end well."

Inko shrugged, "I think there's a chance it could, and if anything happens the coordinator's will inform us and I'll immediately pull Izuku from the group to go somewhere else. I just… The only thing is, don't tell Katsuki Izuku is quirkless. I think it'd help if Izuku could get to know some people without that label. Now… what's the group's email?"

Kasumi knew that she wasn't too far down the line in terms of familial contacts for Shouto Todoroki, but she still hadn't expected the call from the school she'd gotten. She marched with purpose through the elementary hallways, searching for the classroom the front desk had directed her to.

Catching sight of the door, she knocked firmly but did not slide the door open until after receiving the response of, "Come in." She strode in, only slowing when she noticed her nephew curled up onto a seat not far from the teacher's desk. He seemed to perk up a minuscule amount when he caught sight of her, but otherwise he remained curled up as he had before. She reached out to ruffle his hair as she passed him by, stopping directly in front of the teacher's desk.

The man, whose tag on his desk proclaimed to be, 'Fujimoto-sensei,' stopped fiddling with his papers to look her in the eye. "Todoroki-san?"

Kasumi pursed her lips as she once again pat Shouto's head in order to calm the sting of his words, "No, I'm Shouto's aunt from his mother's side. Please, call me Kasumi."

"Ah, my apologies, Kasumi-san. Were his parents unavailable today, or…?" Fujimoto asked, watching as Shouto curled into himself a little more.

Kasumi sighed, grabbing the chair closest to the one Shouto sat in and pulling it close enough to be beside him. Once settled, she explained, "Shouto's father is likely away on duty, and Shouto's mother, my sister, has been hospitalized for a few years now. I'm next on the list in terms of his guardians, and it's not uncommon for me to pick him up from school."

"Ah," Fujimoto said, "my condolences for your mother, Shouto."

His only response was a mute nod. Kasumi saw this as her chance to stop beating around the bush, "Why was I called down? It's not a problem, but I would like to know if Shouto is in trouble somehow."

"Oh, he isn't in trouble or anything of the sort. He is, however, here due to his behavior," Fujimoto said, levering serious but crinkled eyes on the woman. Expecting her protests of how Shouto was the most quiet, respectful child his age, he continued before she could speak. "He's not disruptive, nor does he get into fights with others. He just… refrains from interacting in general.

"His with drawl from other children is to a… concerning degree. I would consider it shyness, except that even kids who have extended friendship to him have been rejected outright. I'm worried that such levels of disengagement could follow him through the rest of his school years and beyond if not addressed properly. Do you happen to know what has lead to this?" Throughout his explanation, Fujimoto's wide hand gestures and casual tone if formal speech, mixed with his crinkled eyes and dimpled face, suggested a man who deeply valued interpersonal connections. Kasumi pursed her lips, knowing that this man considered this a critical matter, which meant there was no chance of her escaping with non-answers. She sighed, pressing her fingers together.

"Shouto… hasn't had the easiest of childhood's. Between his mother's absence and his father's absence due to work, he's never had many to connect with and-"

Fujimoto held up his hand, "Speaking of his father, I had one more concern that only fed into this. You see, recently there was a day for the kids to practice basic uses of their quirks that they could then perform for their class. Now, young Shouto here, " the man twisted to face the child with a kind smile, twisted in the way that showed his affection for the children he worked with, "his quirks have been known to the public for a number of years now. So, when the quirk usage day was coming up, many were excited at the prospect of him using his dual quirks together. But when asked after his quirks, as we did to every child - as most aren't children of famous individuals- he would only say - and use - his ice ability." At this, Kasumi turned astounded eyes on Shouto, now noticing the way the child had slunk further into his seat, "Despite the taunts and jeers of the children and confusion and concern from the teacher's, he refused to budge. So we checked his official records, which clearly state his dual-quirk status." Fujimoto sucked in a heady breath, face slipping into tension as he asked the dreaded question, "So I must ask, if you know the reasoning of this?"

Kasumi had listened to the entire story with a deepening cringe, her gaze directed to the table even as her features continued to twist. To say she was a fan of her brother-in-law would be a laughable joke, but that did not mean she could not treat this situation without delicacy. Her nephew's life would hinge in her actions. For fuck's sake, Enji, what have you done to this kid?

"I… I am not entirely aware of the situation within Shouto's life. I pick him up three times a week for quirk training of his right side, but besides that I do not see him much. My sister hasn't been in his life for quite some time, I'm afraid…" She bit her lip, knowing her words were entirely ineffective but having no real way to figure a counter-argument.

Fujimoto sighed, hand in his hair as he said, "I was afraid that was the case. I'm… While I would love answers, I didn't call you in order to interrogate you. I merely wished to make a suggestion."

Kasumi perked up, more than willing to move the conversation from her stilted words. "And what might this be?"

"Therapy," he said simply. "Group therapy, more specifically, as I feel his exposure to other children would be a major help with his mental state. I have some suggestions for which he could join if-"

"Father would never approve," Shouto's quiet monotone broke in. "It- it would be a distraction. From training, and-" his eyes turned desperate, even as his voice remained monotone.

"Shh, Shouto, I'm thinking." Kasumi drawled, patting his small head as an after thought. She turned to Fujimoto and asked, "It requires parental consent, I assume?"

Fujimoto blinked, "I, yes, of course."

She nodded, "Well, you see, despite her condition, his mother is still a legal guardian of his. She could sign the papers, and I pick you up three days a week. I could take you there, then train you on the weekends or," She twisted in Shouto's direction, "If you're alright with extra training?"

His lower lip jutted out, "I… I don't, I'm not sure?"

Kasumi pat him on the head again, ruffling his mismatched hair, "I think it would do you good."

His lip jutted further, "What about you?"

She laughed, it brighter than her entire demeanor throughout the meeting, "Child, I was chosen as your trainer because I was the only one from my family who could put up with Enji's angsty whiny bullshit out of all of us and still keep their cool. Trust me, I have no fear in holding back on this if it helps you and stabs him in the foot in the process." She tittered, her eyes glinting as she thought about how even if she needed to use force, her sublimation quirk could be quite the threat - even against prideful dimwits such as her brother-in-law.

Fujimoto's beam was lacking, his confusion frank along with his pleasure. "Well here are the pamphlets…"

When Kasumi picked up the consent forms from the therapy office she was sure to ask for a second copy.

When her sister's signature blurred with the mix of ink and tears, she only sighed and procured the other sheets.

"Heyo," Royama said, turning her phone to speaker so she could continue to flick through her twitter feed. "What's up babe?"

"Royama," Yasui hissed, "All four of us we're meeting for breakfast to discuss the three new members, remember? What did you even get distracted doing?" The conversation of her other partners drifted in the background, and she smiled to hear them all together again.

"Villain attack shut down the trains. I ran all the way here, you better be grateful," she said with a pout, even as she put her phone away to walk into the cafe. As she neared the table, her lovers all looked up at her with saccharine grins she knew well.

"Why would we be grateful when you could have just gotten up and left the apartment with the rest of us? You lazy shit," Temko said, getting up to slap Royama's arm and then peck a kiss where she'd slapped. She dragged Royama into her seat and took the one next to Nishi.

"Oh come on," Royama began to whine something about beauty rest, but Nishi interrupted, "You can argue over Ro's sleeping habits later, for now we need to talk out the plan involving these three," he said as he pushed three folders into the center of the table.

Royama grabbed one, passing the other two to Yasui and Temko despite knowing Yasui would have looked over them before. Flipping open the one in her hands, she immediately dropped it and yelled, "Holy shit!"

Yasui winced, "Please keep your voice down. I know you're the newest one to this, but our clients confidentiality is one of our foremost concerns," they said as they began to collect the papers with Nishi's help.

"That was Todoroki Shouto," she whisper yelled, "Endeavor's son! Why is he in therapy? I never thought I'd meet the kid even when I was in the pro-hero circuit!"

Nishi gave her a disgruntled look and said, "Well, you'd know some of why if you'd continued to read through his file, now wouldn't you?"

Eyes now lit up, she made a "gimme-gimme" motion at the papers the two were still sorting. They passed the folder over with twin, fond, sighs. Royama flipped through the document, skimming through and eyes glittering with wells of differing emotions the further into the report she got.

"From what we could get from the aunt when we met her," started Nishi, "is that his family life is rocky. He won't use part of his quirks due to some sort of trauma and he's immensely anti-social."

"Hmm," Royama hummed, "What's their main concern? The quirk-usage or the seclusion? Cause if it's the quirk problem, then they might be better off going elsewhere - the usage of quirks in forbidden in our group."

Yasui's tongue clicked, "It seems to be the anti-social attitude. The quirk comments came nearly as an afterthought…" They paused, knowing the strangeness of the statement. "Though, the strangest thing is a specific request the aunt had: She said the most important thing was that his father was never made aware of him going to therapy." They looked to Royama's twisted expression, "Yeah. Sounds bad, huh?"

"Sounds like shit, yeah," spoke Temko, still staring at her folder's contents with characteristic intensity. She flipped that intensity to the three of them, "Still doesn't equal up to this situation," she gestured to her folder.

Royama grabbed Temko's wrist, preventing her from continuing to scratching at herself. "Who's that one, then?"

"Midoriya Izuku. Age: seven. Quirk: none. Future aspirations: Pro-Hero." Temko's wrist flexed. Each one of them grimaced, Royama most of all, as they sifted through what this meant.

"Look," Yasui began, "Izuku won't be in our care to get critique on his dreams. We won't even really be addressing that - his mother directly requested we keep his quirkless status hidden from the rest of the group."

Silence met the statement, until Royama asked, "So what is he in for, then?"

"Bullying," Temko said. "Inability to connect with others." She pursed her lips, "The typical quirkless kid symptoms."

Royama tapped her chin, "Well that's two with social issues. We could-"

"Wait," Nishi spoke, "there's the last child, too. Bakugou Katsuki. Anger management and temperament issues."

Temko's face twisted a bit, "How old is he?"

"Eight."

"Have his parents tried some other outlets then? At eight therapy isn't usually the best option to anger problems…"

"He's more similar to the other two than you might think. Anti-social, from what his mother said had something of a superiority complex… What she and his teachers seem to think is that if he learns some empathy from connecting to some other kids, it could help to temper him a bit." Yasui shrugged, "I can't say if I agree with that theory yet or not, but that's what the point of the controlled setting of group therapy is, I guess."

"It's a bit of a gamble, but it's not like we're going to turn a child in need away," Nishi said. "So, as Yasui and I have already discussed, there's two things these kids all have in common: an inability to connect to other kids and plans to become pro-heroes. Not that much, but it might be enough if we meddle some."

Yasui picked up from here, "We usually don't have three new kids all on one day after all. Not to say that having friends will fix any of these children's struggles, but it could help. So, we're thinking of grouping them up as much as possible, but with subtlety. Make it seem more, 'You're all the new kids so work with each other on this,' kind of thing, yeah?"

"I was going to say that earlier," Royama muttered.

Nishi chuckled, "Yeah, but I live to steal your ideas from you," and leaned over to peck her nose.

"I love you!" His mother called out from the entrance to the building, "Be safe!"

Izuku smiled, giving her a thumbs up that he made sure could be seen until he rounded the corner, where he froze as he started to panic internally. Why did he agree to this? Nothing ever came from being near kids his own age. Being bullied at school was enough of a daily hell, he really didn't need another one, does he?

But then again, his mother asked and… Maybe he is still hopeful, to find someone who will stay beside him.

"Excuse me?" A large bearded man stood before Izuku, who flushed, jumped, and began to stammer through an apology. The man himself jumped then, and he began to wave his hands frantically to stop the boy. "No, no, kid, there's nothing to apologize for! But, what's your name?"

"Ah! M-Midoriya Izu-k-ku," he stuttered, was he in a restricted area? Oh gosh he just got here and-

"Oh! It's nice to meet you Midoriya-kun. I'm one of the coordinators for the group therapy you'll participate in today. You can call me Nishi." The man smiled, and Izuku felt his rabbit heartbeat calm slightly. Nishi made to grab his shoulder, and then he was being lead through the large building. "You're a bit early, though not the earliest one here! I'm glad to see your mother listened to the request for you to get here a bit early, since you and the other new kids have to fill out some forms."

"F-forms?" Izuku questioned, feeling out of depth again. Anytime he went to a new doctor, his mother answered all the questions for him. He didn't know his insurance of the top of his head and-

"Yes, yes, just some simple things about what you like to do and the like. Though," Nishi stopped before a door, "as per your mother's request, we will be working to keep your quirk secret." Izuku felt his heart drop, "So when you answer yours, it's best if you put something like, 'Prefer not to disclose' for your answer."

And then he opened the door, and Izuku greeted a terrifying but calm sight. Two other little boys sat at a low table, one diligently scribbling in answers while the other tapped the table in rapid succession, his face scrunched up in annoyed thought. At the sound of the door, Nishi gestured for Izuku to walk forward, even as the other two turned curious eyes their way. Izuku flitted in, seeing a woman stand up and begin walking to him.

"Hello! You must be little Izuku-kun, yes? I'm Royama, I'll be leading today's group." She leaned down to ruffle his hair, giggling as Izuku yelped and instinctively leaned away. "I need you to fill out these papers before we start, so you can go sit by the other two boys there. Pencils and erasers are already on the table."

She leaned down to ruffle his hair again, but Izuku shyly ducked out of the way of her hand and skittered over to the two boys. He sat gingerly, looking to see how they reacted to his presence. The boy with dual-colored hair gave him a slight nod, whereas the other one just sniffed in his direction and turned to look back at his paper. Izuku fidgeted even more, grabbing a pencil and beginning to write (in the neatest handwriting he could muster) his answers.

Nishi hadn't lied, it really was all easy questions. Favorite foods, hobbies, favorite hero, some dislikes. He tried his best to write "prefer not to disclose" beside quirk, but he wasn't sure he spelled it all right. While he did this, more and more kids trickled into the room, until finally the person who had introduced herself as Royama called out, "Okay, it's time to begin the group session!"

Izuku frantically collected his papers, moving to step beside the blond-haired boy, but quickly scuttling over to the red-and-white haired one when the blond sneered at him for getting to close. He had been over an arm length way, what even was this kid's personal bubble?

They all sat in chairs in a circle, Izuku between the two other new kids. As everyone settled, Royama said, "Okay, so if you haven't noticed, we have three new faces today. That means we all need to do introductions, and these kid's will be given some time to talk about themselves. Alright?" Everyone clapped in agreement.

The other kids all took turns speaking up, and Izuku was sure to right down each name with a defining trait in his notebook as they went. When they finished, Royama turned to Izuku and the other two and said, Okay, we'll go in this order: Katsuki-kun, Izuku-kun, and Shouto-kun. First, please give us your names."

"Bakugou Katsuki," the blond said, his chin in his hand. A few seconds of silence, and he just glared at each other them.

Izuku guess this was his turn then. "Midoriya Izuku! It's nice to meet you." He tried his best to smile, but he knew nerves made it more of a grimace.

The dual-colored boy stood and bowed, speaking just loud enough for the silent room, "Todoroki Shouto." Huh. That name was a bit familiar.

"Good! Now, how about your favorite foods?" Royama asked with smile.

Katsuki scoffed, "These questions are complete useless? I like spicy food. What does that change?"

"It's just for us to get to know you better, Katsuki-kun. These kids will be telling you very powerful things about themselves, we think it helps if they know who they're talking to," she explained patiently. "Izuku-kun?"

"My favorite food is Katsudon." He mumbled, leaning further away from Katsuki.

"I like cold soba," said Shouto.

"Hah? Why would you like something like that cold?" Katsuki scoffed, again. That was probably going to be about as common as Izuku stuttering, wasn't it?

"I don't like hot things," Shouto said mildly. Before Katsuki could continue, Royama spoke up, pretending too ignore the glare he shot her.

"How about things you like to do?"

"Training to be a pro-hero," Katsuki looked proud as he said this, but that didn't seem to be that uncommon a look for him anyway. Still, Izuku found himself smiling in excitement, turning to look at Katsuki as he said, "I like to analyze pro-heroes."

Oh heck. He'd meant to say drawing, why did he always have no filter when heroing is involved.

"What does that even mean? It sounds nerdy as hell," Katsuki said, and despite his desire to become the chair, he figured answering would be in his favor.

"I. I like to go to hero fights and watch them and take notes on them?" He said, his tone drifting further and further into a mumble. He'd be shocked if anyone besides the new kids heard him.

"That… actually sounds pretty cool," the red/white haired kid murmured, Izuku whipped towards him, wondering when the last time someone considered something he did cool. "Do you mind showing them to me later?"

"Of course! I mean, of course not. Of course I will." He stuttered. Was this like making a friend?

"Shouto-kun? Your hobbies?"

The boy stiffened. Izuku didn't entirely understand, what could be more embarrassing then admitting to being a huge nerd in front of at least ten people?

"I… I don't really know," the boy said, slowly. Everyone in the room seemed confused.

"Well, what do you do in your free time?" Clarified Royama.

He shrugged, "I don't have free time." The entire class froze in shock. Nishi and Royama exchanged worried glances. Eventually Royama decided to move on.

"Well, uh, what do you kids want to do in life?"

Izuku grinned and shouted, "Pro-hero!" the same moment Katsuki said it. The two stared at each other, Katsuki's eyes narrowed in analysis and Izuku's in wonder. Much quieter and delayed, Shouto also murmured "pro-hero" and blushed slightly when Izuku's wonderment was then directed to him.

Katsuki stared, heady, until he shrugged and said, "Whatever. I'll be number one anyway." To which Shout rolled his eyes and Izuku nervously giggled.

"Ah, good jobs- er, job! Well, since you're all clearly interested in heroes, why don't you tell us your favorite?"

Once again, Izuku and Katsuki chorused at the same moment, "All Might!" to which Izuku giggled even more nervously, and Katsuki rolled his eyes. But at least he seemed to respect his tastes. Shouto waited until being prodded, fidgeting as he, with the most emotion he'd used all night, "All Might." This time Izuku beamed at him, and Shouto seemed to relax at that.

"Ah, he really is the best, huh?" Royama laughed to herself, thinking about how she'd have to tell this to him in person whenever she saw him again. "Well, I suppose we should start to close this off with an actual question. So, you three, what would you say you want to change most about yourself?"

Katsuki didn't even hesitate as he said, "Nothing," with a big, self-satisfied smirk. Izuku could feel envy building up, what sort of person had the confidence to say that to a group of strangers?

"I…" Izuku began, clutching to his paper with enough strength to nearly rip it. He knew his first answer, but then he remembered what Nishi-san had said. That his mother didn't want him to tell that he was quirkless. So instead he took a deep breath and said, "I wish I wasn't so much of a crybaby." Because wasn't that the other mocking name besides "quirkless" the bullies usually said?

Royama looked sympathetic to him, but he refused to meet her gaze, and she eventually gestured to Shouto. At first he didn't react, but after a moment, he looked at the ground and mumbled, "My left," while bringing a hand to cover his left eye.

Izuku blinked, not comprehending, "You mean… are you left-handed?"

"No," he answered shortly.

A quiet settled over all of the room. Izuku wasn't even sure if anyone but him had heard Shouto. Royama stood and clapped, saying, "Well, no we'll move on to the actual-"

"Hold on," Katsuki interrupted. He stood to his full height, but still glared up at the woman as he demanded, "Why didn't we share our quirks?"

Royama blinked, "Because in this group quirk usage is banned and-"

"You had us write them down. Why don't we share them?" Without waiting for a response, Katsuki held up his open palms and said, "This is mine," and tiny explosions began to go off in his palms.

Izuku stared, entranced by the brand-new quirk. Try as he might, he's never been able to get rid of his obsessions with new quirks - especially powerful ones like these. He threw down his sheet, not paying any mind as his questionairre sheet slid over in front of Shouto, who picked it up and began to read it. Izuku reached for his notebook and pen, ignorant of Shouto's wide eyes as he read the crossed out, 'none,' in answer to the quirk question.

"That's so amazing! What is it called? I've never seen anything like that before," Izuku gushed, uncaring that he was potentially invading the boy's personal bubble. This time Katsuki didn't seem to mind, too preoccupied with pride swirling in himself at Izuku's words.

"Well-"

"He can tell you later," Nishi interrupted, ignoring the pissy look Katsuki threw at him for it. "Quirks are not topics to be discusses unless previously agreed upon by the whole group. We're glad that you're proud of your abilities, but please respect those rules." Each of the kids clapped in answer, excluding Shouto and Izuku who nodded, and Katsuki just sank into his chair, clearly annoyed but cowed by how the entire group seemed to immediately change topic. He still held Izuku's full attention, anyway.

Izuku fretted, standing along the outside of the building. The only kids left to be picked up where Katsuki, Shouto, and him, and he couldn't decide between staying silent or trying to bring up what either had mentioned before. He stood beside Shouto, fighting the urge to speak up because what if he hadn't actually meant it or-

"Alright, do you want to continue this interview now?" Katsuki said, glaring up from his arms-crossed legs stuck-out position on the ground. Izuku blinked, unsure as to what he meant for a second before shouting.

"Oh! Sure, yeah, okay. Here, just let me…" He grabbed out his notebook, flipping to the very end. He was just now realizing that he didn't have more than three pages left.

"How full is that?" Asked Shouto behind him.

Izuku jumped, "Ah, I use it a lot? I don't… I guess I don't really analyze just heroes, I like to study quirks themselves too, so I have normal people's quirks written down too…"

"I've never seen someone so passionate about quirks," Shouto said, crouching down beside Izuku to look at the most recent page. It seemed to have a rough sketch of someone in a police uniform, with a description of what their quirk was written in rough chicken scratch. Curiously, he began to flip through the pages, flipping through each one and freezing when he saw his father's face. On instinct, his right side flared and froze some of the book over, not reacting to the shouts of surprise from the other two until the face was hidden.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Katsuki yelled. Shouto jumped up, shaking a bit as he realized what he did.

"Ah, sorry, I. I can fix it, here," he muttered, bringing his left hand up to melt the ice. His mind felt as though it was going a hundred miles an hour, and he didn't realize he had finished until the book had caught on fire. The other two screamed again.

"My notebook!" Izuku grabbed it from his hands, patting it down against his clothes. He winced when he saw the burned and soaked state of the book. Well, at least he only had three pages left and needed a new one anyway.

"I… I'll pay for a new one," Shouto murmured, turning to face the wall to ignore Katsuki's yells of, "What the fuck were you trying to do!"

Izuku shook his head, "No! No, it's fine, I needed a new one anyway, and besides." His eyes lit up, "Your quirk is so awesome too! Ack, do you mind if I ask you about it? That can be my repayment, if you want!"

"I… sure? But what are you going to record it down in…" Shouto whispered, overwhelmed by the positive reaction he was receiving for his mistake. Where was the anger?

"You said you wanted to hear about mine!" Katsuki cut in, attention whore that he is. He looked down at the notebook, "But you can't write anything about me in that thing. It looks like shit!"

Izuku shook his head, "No, no, of course I'll get a new notebook and bring it next time."

"You better!" Katsuki called out as he ran out to meet his mother in her car.

Izuku and Shouto sat beside one another, the energy that Katsuki's presence has brought now gone. After a little bit, Shouto tapped Izuku on the shoulder, and after being sure he had his attention, he asked, "So is the reason you love everyone else's quirks so much because you don't have one of your own?"

As he watched Izuku faint, he wondered if having friends actually was more difficult than just playing soccer or "The Floor is Lava."

When Izuku came in next week with a notebook titled, "Future Pro-Heroes Katsuki and Shouto," - and Katsuki scoffed again, but softer, with his customary pride but mixed with a tinge of amusement, and every emotionless Shouto cracked a small smile - well, Royama was not ashamed to admit that she might have squealed.


	2. Dancing, Drawing, and Daddy Issues

"So the new kids," Yasui asked, poking their dinner more than eating it. "How are things?"

Temko laughed, stabbing her own meal with far more force than necessary, "Kinda wanna jug Katsuki and explain the world to him. Also want to punch him in the dick, it's confusing."

Royama shot finger guns to her girlfriend, "Same here babe."

Nish sighed, looking at the two with fondness before continuing the conversation, "They seem to be getting on surprisingly well. But I'm worried about trying to group the three up… Katsuki doesn't seem the most… anti-bullyish, and Izuku isn't exactly in the best position to be helping a bully redeem himself, given his own experiences."

"Well," Temko cut in, "Shouto and Izuku seem to get along immensely well. I'm surprised how easily they let each other in."

Royama chuckled, stealing a sip of Yasui's drink before saying, "They are children. And for that matter, neither have friends. They likely want someone to rely on."

Temko's lips pursed, "I suppose."

Yasui sat up, "For now I propose that we stop grouping them up forcefully and let them chose their own groups. See if the chose each other. If so, then we can turn our attention on the other things they're in therapy for."

They all hummed in agreement, and Nishi waved down the waiter for their check.

Shouto never would have expected his biweekly therapy sessions to be the highlights of his weeks - and perhaps that says a lot about his life - but given that this is true for Izuku and Katsuki too… Maybe it isn't too bad.

(And wasn't that a concept - he was part of the highlights of someone's week. Two someones!)

He's not sure how to feel about having Katsuki Bakugou as a highlight; but then again, Katsuki probably feels the same way about Shouto himself. And he's not sure what he's done to deserve Midoriya Izuku in his life, but he's grateful. Shouto has never had such a positive, motivating force in his life. He never realized what he was lacking until Izuku-the-Disney-Princess entered.

He bit his lip to prevent himself from asking something childish like, "Are we there yet?" His aunt appreciated constant pestering about as much as she does surprise visits from Endeavor.

He shook himself. No need to think about his father when he was going to see his… friends? Friend? Katsuki and him could be a little volatile. (He's also ignoring that therapy would technically be the one place where discussing his father, or lack-thereof, would be acceptable.)

"Alright," Aunt Kasumi said, "we're here. I'll be back in an hour," she turned to face him, smiling just a bit. "Go enjoy yourself, kid."

He nodded, hurrying out the door. Then he stopped, remembering how Izuku has said goodbye to his mother. She wasn't his own, but… Maybe she'd still appreciate it. Gathering his courage, he reopened the door, climbed in, kissed his aunt's cheek, clambered back out, and waved at her shocked face as he ran into the building.

He walked the now familiar path to the therapy room. He opened the door, internally disappointed upon seeing neither of his… friends there yet. He waved politely at a few of the other kids and got polite waves back, aside from the girl Maniko, who waved with extra enthusiasm and even called out his name. As he responded, today's leaders - Yasui and Temko - glanced up and waved as well.

He smiled to himself. Not to say that all the coordinators weren't kind, but he usually enjoyed days lead by Yasui-san the most. Plus, Temko-san was Katsuki's favorite, though no one knew why.

"The heck are you grinning at," Katsuki grouched in front of him. His grin slipped, but he quickly pulled on a falsely sweet smile.

"You blasting your hair until you go bald, of course."

Katsuki glowered, "As if I'd make such a stupid mistake. You, on the other hand - you must've got that scar somehow." Shouto stiffened, but Katsuki has walked past him to his seat and didn't notice. It was these moments when Shouto truly questioned how much of a friend Katsuki really was, "Did you screw up wiping your tears?"

He didn't know how to respond without making Katsuki aware of how much his words had affected him. He felt himself curl up, falling back on his usual penchant for silence. He cringed when Katsuki turned to look at him, but breathed a heady sigh of relief when Yasui skittered up to them.

"Don't egg each other on too much, boys," Yasui said. "We'll pair you up for a pair activity if you need help learning to be civil."

Shouto opened his mouth, prepared to explain that they'd already worked together in groups before, but got no further than, "But," when the door slammed open.

Royama ran in with a sobbing girl trailing her. Her name was Yoko, he believed, but she had never made much of an impression. He watched as Royama ran straight to Yasui, yet he was unable to understand their fervent whispers despite their proximity. He glanced to Katsuki, who looked back at him with raised eyebrows. Katsuki had yet to even look in the crying girl's direction.

Someone's breath hitched behind him, and he turned only to feel a miniscule smile tug at his lips. Izuku had arrived, staring at where the little girl sat crying next to the adults. His expression radiated a concern that Shouto felt breathless at seeing. Whoever hurt this pure soul enough to make him need _therapy?_ Izuku leaned in, "What's wrong with Yoko-san?"

Shouto shrugged in the same moment Katsuki said, "Don't know. Walked in like that."

Izuku's further worried look did not change, but by then Temko-san had turned to address the rest of the children. "We're going to be changing up the plans for today. The topic will be on family. If anyone feels they cannot participate, then please speak up now and we'll allow you to work alone."

Shout's chest tightened. Should he request to sit out? Wouldn't that cause more suspicion? He should just lie, that would be safest for everyone.

"Will you participate in this, Todoroki-kun? There is no shame in not doing so," Yasui spoke, making Shouto jolt. He quickly shook his head, then muttered, "No, it's fine," when he realized that could be misinterpreted.

Shouto leaned back in his seat, trying to find the most relaxing pose he could rest in. If someone called out his lie - if Izuku or Yasui or anyone noticed - he's not sure how he'd react. He's trained not to run, but that could be the best option. He doesn't want to not be able to come back, though, and he'd never be able to explain why he ran.

Temko-san clapped her hands, and everyone clapped in return, jostling Shouto from his thoughts. She gestured to Yoko, silently requesting for the girl to begin.

"I," the girl breathed deeply, "My mother. She's threatening to pull me from this group. She- she thinks I come here just to complain about her, or something." Yoko breathed again, "She thinks it's making me disobedient."

Shouto could imagine what Endeavor would do upon learning of this group. Best case scenario would be some harsh words and extra training… Worst case, he shut down the group, put Shouto in homeschooling since it was his teacher's idea, aunt Kasumi would be banned from teaching him anymore…

Shout flinched, feeling the slight tap on his left shoulder. Izuku jumped himself, but he still murmured a quiet, "It's your turn." And Shouto could feel himself freeze up, all his lies drying up in the face of what could go wrong. He yanked his eyes to the table before him, nervously tapping on his left arm as he tried to string his thoughts together passed, "I shouldn't be here."

"Todoroki-kun," he heard Yasui-san speak from behind him, but he didn't turn to look. Yasui exhaled heavily, "We will come back to you if you feel able to participate at another time. Do not be afraid to speak up if you ever feel you can."

Shouto nodded, thankful but inable to express it at that time. He could feel the stares of his peers - Izuku's curiosity and Katsuki's consideration more than the rest - and he tried to lean back against the chair again. He then realized it was Izuku's turn next, and turned to listen to his reponses (what even were the questions?).

"My mother is really amazing!" he beamed, hands fiddling to be busy as usual. Shouto could feel a bitterness he despised rise in him at his friend's obvious excitement: This is why he couldn't tell anyone. His life would be incomprehensible to any of these kids, and-

Temko-san spoke over his thoughts, "We're glad you're so close," Shouto winced, realizing he thought over his peers talking again, "and you're mother seems to be delightful-"

"She's my best friend!" he interrupted, and Shouto felt another pang of melancholy.

"But is she your only parental figure in your life?" Temko-san asked, her usual bluntness on full display. Shouto watched as Izuku slumped, and felt himself sit up more, intrigued. He'd automatically assumed Izuku's good relationship would extend to any other family, but…

"Ah," Izuku whispered, then raised his voice even though he kept his face towards the table, "my father isn't as great…" he trailed off.

Temko-san leaned over, too far to reach him but her attempt at comfort was still obvious, "How so?"

Izuku's hand trembled a bit, and his breathing didn't seem entirely even as he said, "He's… never around anymore. I don't- I don't think he wanted to deal with me, is all."

Shouto blinked. He knew he would be personally overjoyed at his father leaving him to his own devices, but he didn't feel that Izuku was referring to a few hours… or even days. "When was the last time you saw him?" Shouto asked.

Izuku's trembling grew worse, "Ah, not too long after I turned four?" He paused to breath the same moment most of the room gasped, "He, uh, left a note explaining that he didn't have the time to deal with all of 'Izuku's shit' with the amount of work deadlines coming up." He hiccuped, rubbing at his eyes even as tears refused to fall.

"Where'd he go?" Katsuki asked from beside Izuku, his eyes trailing the tears in Izuku's own with an unreadable expression.

"We're not sure," he replied, his tears finally dripping down a bit, "He didn't say. All I know is that my mum sat me down a year after that and told me that he wasn't my dad anymore, according to the government. So. I suppose he doesn't matter much anymore."

"Damn straight," Katsuki huffed. Izuku let out a sob-laugh.

"Katsuki-kun," Temko-san reprimanded, standing so as to tower over the boy. Katsuki glared at her, but he didn't stand to match her like he would have any of the other coordinators. Shouto would have laughed at the subtle way you could see his respect for the woman, but he was too engrossed in the scene before him.

"What? His dad wants nothing to do with him, so why is he crying over him? Don't give him anything back. It's not like his absent dad is gonna stop him from becoming a pro," Katsuki turned to look at Izuku, "right?"

Everyone's eyes were on the two. Was that… aggressive comfort? But Izuku nodded, scrubbing at his eyes and whispering, "Right." He looked to Katsuki with the hint of a smile.

Katsuki made a dismissive hand-gesture, "Well, then it's my turn I guess." He took a moment to think, then opened his mouth to continue.

"My father," Shouto, his thoughts drifting far too fast for him to register, began to speak. He didn't know why he was talking, even, just that if Izuku had the guts to cry and tell them all about his own terrible parent, then Shouto could talk too. Maybe not much, but he could say… something. Izuku looked up to Shouto with red-rimmed eyes and he could feel his resolve strengthen.

"My father is harsh. He doesn't even know I come to these meetings, and I… don't know what he'd say if he did." Shouto swallowed, but tried to continue, "I don't see him much unless he's training me." He stopped, figuring that was enough for the group for now - but nowhere near enough of the whole story he supposed.

"What," Yasui said, "what about your mother?"

Shouto stiffened, the lump in his throat preventing words. His mother meant the world to him once, but… "I haven't seen her in four years. She's in the hospital."

Izuku gasped, and he felt a small hand grabbing onto his shoulder. He looked to his left to see Izuku, crying again, and blubbering a whisper of something akin to "I'm sorry." Shouto panicked, not sure how to calm the boy down about something that didn't even involve the other and he'd never helped someone when they cried before-

"Well," Katsuki's loud voice caused Izuku's head to snap up towards him, "it's time for my turn, for real, now." He turned a sharp stare towards Shouto, showing that he didn't approve of his earlier interruption.

Izuku began to smile, and Shouto didn't understand why until he said, "Well, my father," and then burst into helpless giggles when Katsuki turned to him with anger in his eyes but stopped at the laughter. He still hit the other boy, but as a friendlier punch than he might have before.

Progress.

"So," Izuku started, sat beside Shouto as they waited on their family to pick them up, "your father is… Endeavor, right?"

"Shouto felt himself bristle at the name a bit, but he managed to mostly hide his reaction and say, "Yes."

"That's so amazing! You said he trains you? What is that even like, I mean," he continued, his muttering taking on a mind of it's own. Shouto shifted, glancing over to see Katsuki laid across the ground with his head pillowed in his bag. He didn't even seem to be registering the conversation, and Shouto sighed, disappointed that he couldn't find a topic switch through the other boy. Izuku's muttering had increased, and Shouto started prodding at his scar, a habit he had picked up whenever his father was mentioned. Perhaps it was a reminder, as to why he refused to use his left side…

"Oh," he heard, and saw Izuku had quit mumbling to watch him. He seemed ready to sprout into another bout of nonsensical talking, but suddenly Katsuki sat up.

"So what's it like to be famous?" He asked, his hair slightly flattened from having laid on it. "I bet it's amazing."

Shouto blinked, then said, deadpan, "People will randomly follow me around and ask to meet my father. They request me to illegally demonstrate my quirks for "fun" in crowded streets, then get upset when I say I can't. I was asked, once, by another pro-hero, to tell Endeavor that he stood them up for lunch the week before. That hero _came to my school to specifically have me tell him this._ Famous is… weird."

Katsuki's faced pinched up, "I still think it'll be awesome. At least, it will be when we're the famous ones."

Izuku flipped towards him, eyes burning, "Did you say we're? As in, we all will be?"

His eyes flashed, "Of course not. I said I'm, why would I have-"

Shouto stood up, catching his aunt waving to him from beside her car. He waved at the other two as he took off, sprinting to her side. Given everything that had occurred since he'd seen her off at the beginning of the session, it slipped his mind how casually affectionate he had been with her - up until the moment that he stopped next to her.

She immediately crouched down, tentatively wrapped her arms around him and whispering, "I'm so glad I came to your school that day."

He felt the slightest hint of tears prick his eyes as he murmured, "Yeah… same," and smiled at her laugh.

Katsuki stared down at the pencil in his hand, unsure how to use it to make what he imagined in his head. They were supposed to be practicing some emotional outlet technique, but he didn't exactly get how this would make him less angry when he was this frustrated even trying to draw a stick figure. His teeth ground, trying to fight his urge to throw the pencil down and blow the paper up.

To his right he could hear Shouto murmuring something to Izuku, and he hated how his focus automatically tuned into their conversation.

"You seem to know what you're doing," he said, examining the paper pinned beneath Izuku's hand, "Do you draw in your free time?"

Izuku laughed, a cautious but bright sound that Katsuki never knew how to feel about, "Ah, well, I think a lot, and…" he paused, nervousness increasing as he looked away from Shouto, only to meet Katsuki's eyes and turn away from them too. "I like to draw out the scenes I think of. Like, All Might fighting a villain, or, you saw my notebook. So… things like that."

Katsuki, interest piqued, leaned closer to the paper, seeing a sketch of what looked to be Temko leaning over and helping a kid draw. The drawing wasn't amazing, still holding the shakiness of a young child's touch, but Katsuki could see the outlines of sketching techniques he'd never seen before. What were the squares for?

Forgetting himself, he questioned aloud, "What are the shapes for? They look dumb."

Izuku turned to him, his eyes lit up with a glee that confused Katsuki more than anything. Who got so happy when asked about drawing. He snorted, this damn nerd.

"It's to help maintain shape and proportions! I found a drawing tutorial a while back that shows how basic shapes can be used to make more complex drawings, like, here let me show you a finished sketch," he said, reaching for his bag beneath the table to pull out a notebook. He withdrew the notebook dedicated to Shouto and him - and he still wasn't happy to be sharing a book with him, but at least Izuku had agreed to dedicate ⅔ of it to him - and raised his eyebrows and Izuku began to flip through it.

"Did you use that notebook for something? You better not have used my pages-"

Izuku held up a hand, shaking his head as he continued to flip and ignoring Katsuki's warning growl. He settled on a page and turned it to face Katsuki with a beam that slowly melted as he saw the emotionless expression Katsuki held.

"Ah," Izuku began, tone quiet, "I'm sorry if it's weird, it's just something I usually do for pro-heroes-"

Katsuki leaned forward and slapped a hand over Izuku's mouth, examining the drawing with a critical eye. There were no obvious mistakes, and he leaned back feeling satisfied and smug.

"You drew me," he said, the shock of hair and scowl clearly his. Katsuki's own drawing suddenly felt inadequete, and despising the feeling, he made sure to slip his hand to cover it entirely.

"Y-yes, I did, I'm sorry if that's weird to do, especially without asking, oh gosh-"

"You said you do this for pro-heroes, right? Then it should be fine, you're just treating your journal on him as you would a pro-hero, which is what _he_ wanted." Shouto's eyes turned accusatory on him, and Katsuki could feel himself begin to rile up.

"It's good," Katsuki said, gesturing at the picture of him, "I would only be pissed if he made me look terrible."

Shouto eyed him, and Katsuki suddenly realized that… That may be the first compliment he's paid anyone here. Or anyone in a long-time. Shit, and it was to _Izuku_ of all people, fuck his filter.

Izuku's sparkling eyes made Katsuki choke on his denial, and the silence went on enough for Izuku to calm himself enough to say, "You think it's good, Katsuki? I'm glad, I was afraid you'd hate it because it's weird and, I don't, creepy?"

Katsuki struggled to get a word out past his spluttering (and the smug look Shouto wore did not bode well with him), but then Royama spoke up.

"Alright kids!" she clapped, waiting for everyone to do so as well. "For the ones who have been around for longer, then I'm sure you know what these pictures are for." Katsuki spluttered, they were doing something with these stupid drawings? "It just so happens that it's one of own's birthdays next week!"

She gestured to Izuku, and Katsuki felt his heartbeat speed up. She couldn't be implying…

"So, if you all could, I'd like for you to write happy birthday somewhere on your drawings and give them to him. If you want to give him another present, his actual birthday is July 15th!"

An explosion rang out.

It was only when Izuku screamed and jumped almost entirely into Shouto's lap that katsuki realized that he'd caused it. The hand he'd put over his drawing to cover it up had ignited, and he watched the slivers of smouldering paper drift to the table. He hadn't meant to do that, but Izuku's drawing was good and… his had not been good. At all. He doesn't give a fuck about drawing, but he does care that his drawing wouldn't have been as good as _his_.

Seeing the little tatters actually felt kind of good, but he didn't get a chance to dwell on that.

"Katsuki-kun!" Temko yelled, running to his side and putting a hand on his shoulder. "What happened? Was that your picture?"

Katsuki frowned, glancing up at her, "Yes. What about it?"

"Why did you do that," she said, sounding exasperated in the exact way his mother often did with him. "You can't give it to Izuku-kun now!"

Katsuki felt his defenses rising as he sneered, "What if I don't want to give that loser a gift!"

He heard a slight sniffle, and Katsuki turned to see Izuku staring at him and barely holding back tears. Dumbfounded, his stiffened shoulders drooped, not sure what to make of the crying boy in front of him. His automatic reaction was to taunt him for crying, but another part of him realized that that would just further worsen everything he'd already done.

During his moment of hesitance, Shouto had stood up. Glaring at Katsuki, he moved to stand beside Izuku and gave him the drawing he'd made. He hesitated for a slight moment, before he leaned down to pat Izuku on the head and ruffle his hair. Seconds later and Izuku's face was covered in glimmering tears.

"Th-thank you so much, Shouto-san," Izuku whispered through his tears. Shouto smiled slightly at him.

"You can call me just Shouto, you know," he replied, equally as quiet. At the moment, Izuku broke down into full sobs, and Katsuki registered the faint tightening of his heart as he watched, transfixed.

All the kids slowly stood up, following Shouto's lead and slowly amassing a pile of paper in front of Izuku. Most glared at Katsuki as they passed, and he felt himself glare back on autopilot, even though his attention was focused on the sobbing boy before him.

As the procession ended Izuku kept crying, his small frame shaking and any time he seemed close to calming down, he'd look at the pile of pictures in front of him and the waterworks would begin again. Eventually, Royama moved beside him, quietly asking him what was wrong.

"I," he said, but cut off with a sob. Royama soothingly rubbed his back, and after multiple deep breaths, he mumbled, "It's pathetic."

"No one here will judge you," she said, poking his cheek. "And their all sworn to confidentiality. Anything you say stays within this group or anonymous."

Izuku's eyes had grown to be immensely puffy and red, and Katsuki almost snorted at how ridiculous he looked, but he couldn't bring himself to when he heard Izuku's answer.

"I've never been given gifts by- by people my age before," he curled up tighter into himself, "I've always spent my birthdays alone with my mom."

Shit.

Katsuki felt something he distantly registered as guilt. The creeping sensation flooding through him was something he wasn't accustomed to experiencing, and he blamed his need to shake the feeling off for his next actions.

He slammed his hands down on the table in front of him, ignoring the yelp most of the other kids let out, "Well, I'll just get you a better gift than the rest of these suckers' shitty drawings! So stop being such a crybaby over such worthless gifts!"

"Katsuki-kun!" Temko yelled, but most of the other kids had smiled, shaking their head at Katsuki's crude attempt at damage control. Shouto's face had tilted, considering.

Izuku blinked, tears still falling but with less ferocity. He blinked a few more times before he finally said, "Okay… Katsuki-san."

Katsuki shrugged, running out of the room and away from his emotions as he yelled, "Just say Katsuki!"

"Hey," Katsuki heard over his shoulder, and she spun around, seeing a still partially pissed off Todoroki Shouto standing behind him. He sneered, ready to defend himself if the boy started to pick at him for what he'd said.

"I'm not here to fight," he placated, his right hand held up in either a "calm down" or a "down, boy" motion. Katsuki's sneer didn't lessen, "I just want to know: what are you doing for Izuku's birthday?"

Katsuki froze, unsure how to respond. Eventually he turned up his nose and said, "I'll figure something out."

Shouto still looked conflicted, "I'm not sure what I could get him… And I can't go out looking for things in a mall or anything, it could end up on the news or internet and my dad would question what I was doing…"

Katsuki's eyes narrowed, "Would that really be so bad?"

Shouto's eyes turned to his, full of hidden pain, "Yeah… yeah, it would. He's got a… temper. And is a control freak."

Katsuki snorted, amused at how casually he referred to one of the top heroes as a control freak. He sighed in thought, then said with far more enthusiasm, "You could do something for him. Or make something."

Shouto's lips pursed, "Like what? I'm not an artist, or performer." His laughter was far too bitter for an eight years old, "I'm only good at school and my quirk."

Katsuki froze, then rushed forward and grabbed Shouto by the shoulders, "Quirks! Yeah, we could put on a… demonstration with our quirks for him. He's obsessed over that shit, right?"

Katsuki watched as Shouto considered this, his left fist clenching and unclenching. His face had twisted in concentration, but eventually he met eyes with Katsuki again, grey and blue boring holes, "We don't have much time, so it'd have to be something simple. I could make small ice sculptures and you could blow them up? That doesn't seem like all that much of a performance though. Nothing compared to Cirque du Soleil…"

Katsuki scoffed, "How about I do it mid-air? I can blast myself up, though I'm still working on my direction training." He wasn't sure why he admitted the last part, but, if they were going to work together, they should probably understand each other's strengths.

Shouto nodded, "I can practice at home and here with you on the therapy days. Though I don't know where we'll do it."

Katsuki shrugged, "Let's try asking the therapists."

He began to walk out, Shouto trailing behind him and saying, "If we do this, bring goggles. Ice shards in your eye will make you cry."

"You have until therapy is over to practice. I'll bring Izuku-kun here as soon as it ends, so that gives you a little over an hour. Don't screw up too much and waste it all," Temko-san smirked, and Shouto could see her eyeing the small grocery bag Katsuki carried with him. The crinkling of firm plastic jostling was the only indication that it was a cake of some sort, though Shouto didn't know what kind.

Shouto nodded, ignoring Katsuki's yells of how "they wouldn't even need that long," and focused on wheeling his extra-large cooler through the door. He had the easier job, and he knew it, so he wasn't too worried about himself. He was mostly worried about being able to time this properly with Katsuki.

Shouto pushed the cooler to a corner and turned to look at the leader, "Did you happen to get the… the metronet?"

Temko-san laughed, her entire body shaking with it, "Metronome, Shouto-kun. And yes, it's plugged into the speaker over by that wall. I have it set for the tempo you asked for, so just hit the play button and you're good to go," she turned to the door, pausing to say, "I'm glad you two are doing this."

Katsuki scoffed, "Yeah, well it's not for _you,_ it's for training."

Temko-san snickered, "So that's what you kids are calling friendship nowadays," and then danced out of the room to Katsuki's sputtering.

Shouto examined the speaker, searching around for the little box Temko had shown them a picture of after. Locating the on button, he pressed it down.

"Ow! The hell are you doing?" Katsuki yelled, but Shouto's ears were still ringing from how deafening the speaker was. He immediately turned it off, curling a hand over his left and leaning in to find the volume button on the speaker and lowering it significantly. He pressed the on button once again.

"For some reason," he turned to look at Katsuki, "it was set at nearly 90 percent," he sghed. "I feel Royama-san might have had something to do with that."

"How is she an adult?" Katsuki asked, his hands still clasped over top his ears.

"Her age," Shouto mumbled, walking closer to the other. He gave a small internal laugh at the way he was still curled up on the ground, "I'd think with all your screaming and explosions you'd be used to ear-splitting noise."

Katsuki sat up, glaring at him, "I'm not that loud idiot."

"Hmm. Are we picking up where we left off the other day? We have the metronome now."

"I've practiced. We can try to get the timing down this time," Katsuki muttered, moving into a crouch similar to that of a cat. Shouto almost laughed again.

"Sure," he said, running to the cooler and dragging it a bit further to where they'd be practicing in the middle of the room. Opening it, he reached in and dragged out a number of small ice sculptures.

"Are they shaped differently?" Shouto jumped at the voice just behind his back, turning to see Katsuki with protective goggles pressing his shock of hair against his head. He'd refused to wear them unless Shouto agreed to as well, citing that the smoke his explosions gave would hurt his eyes and affect his accuracy. Shouto had just shook his head but agreed anyway, since whether it was true or not, it didn't hurt to not risk his eyesight.

"The one for the actual performance have specific shapes… The others are just whatever shape they came out as," he shrugged.

Katsuki's eyes narrowed at the pile, grabbing one on top and asking, "Is this All Might?"

"Yes," Shouto answered, distracted by trying to both lay out towels and not dropping the ice he carried. As a quiet snickering came from the other boy, he dropped one and watched as it landed safely on the towel before turning to the other boy.

"He'll love that one. You might want to just give him that as a present," Katsuki said, shutting the lid and scooting closer to Shouto on the ground. "So the rhythm… It's just 'One-Two-Three-Four' twice, and then it changes based on how many you throw?"

Shouto nodded, "Any time you need to explode something, I add an 'and' between the numbers. Like, 'One-two-three-four-and-one,' and you explode on the one."

"Well let's get this over with, then," he mumbled, dragging himself to his feet and standing beside him.

"You're hesitating," Shouto said, watching as another ice sculpture shattered onto the ground. He threw a towel at Katsuki, who grumbled and began to clean up the mess of ice.

"No, you're just going to slow," he grouched, rubbing in harsh motions against the wood seemingly wood flooring. It was supposedly quirk resistant material, though by appearance he would never have known.

"We're only up to four in a row. If you can't do that many quickly enough, then we're going to have to slow down the timing."

"We're not going any slower," he growled, standing up and moving closer to Shouto to force eye-contact. "This is more than slow enough. Any slower and we'll look like a couple of dumb kids failing at juggling."

Shouto rolled his eyes, "We _are_ kids, Katsuki. We only had a week to put this together, and Izuku is going to like it either way, so what does the speed matter?"

"How do you know that?" Katsuki yelled, eyes burning with an emotion Shouto couldn't place.

Shouto blinked, stunned. "Know what? That Izuku will enjoy it? Didn't you hear him the other day? He said-"

"What we're doing here isn't all that impressive. We're just exploding blocks of ice and you're going to do something with the remains. It's not," his fists clenched, "It won't really mean anything."

Shouto eyed him, unsure how to work around this sudden outburst of emotion. If he pushed Katsuki too far, he'd probably get angry and try to fight him, or refuse to work anymore. But at this rate… They would fail anyway. But still…

"He'll enjoy it. The last time I drew something was in Kindergarten, and he cried at just getting my horrible drawing."

"But," Katsuki's fists clenched tighter, his eye beginning to twitch, "we don't even know what his quirk is. This could be literal child's play to him."

A rush of realization washed over him, and he mumbled, "We don't." But I do.

"How do we know he wouldn't be mocking us, thinking about how easily he could-"

"He wouldn't," Shouto interrupted, unsure how to calm the other down but knowing that this could escalate in catastrophic ways if he didn't. "He said it before: No one's ever done something like this for him. He's in _therapy_ because no one's ever done something like this. If you're thinking that you'll seem weak to him because you can't destroy a building for his amusement, then you need to flip through his notebook on us."

Shouto turned away, not enjoying the astounded but still slightly enraged look Katsuki had on him. "Look, if you want to quit, go ahead. But if you're going to, then I'm going to need the rest of the time we have to find a gift that won't melt in 10 minutes. And you'll need to go find one to back up your words from last week, too."

He waited, not entirely sure if Katsuki would even say anything if he left. He wondered what he could get him. There was a florist nearby, but he didn't even know if Izuku was allergic to pollen, let alone what sort of flower he liked. Plus flowers didn't last much longer than his ice. Maybe if he could figure out what All Might's favorite flower is- Or, there have to be flowers that look like him, there are tons of yellow flowers.

He heard a tapping, and he turned around to see Katsuki, tapping his foot to the metronome and setting off tiny explosions to the beat. His eyes met Shouto's as he muttered, "Just start throwing them already."

"Make sure to take this," Royama-san said, handing him a small camera, "and keep it on the entire time. Don't make it obvious that you have though, just set it against your thigh or something."

Izuku accepted the gift with no small amount of confusion, but knew asking where he was wouldn't get him anywhere. He looked to the door he'd been brought to, but he couldn't read the writing on the nameplate. He startled slightly as Royama opened the door with a key, yelling, "He's here!" before scuttling further down the hallway.

He took a deep breath, attempting to steal himself when the door opened wider on his second inhale. He choked up, glancing to meet Shouto's gaze and coughing out, "Shouto-san!"

Shouto look at him worriedly, hesitating to reach out to pat him on the back as he murmured, "I said just Shouto was fine."

Izuku's eyes widened, and he nodded vigorously, "Oh, right! Sh-Shouto, where have you been? I assumed you were busy, but I also thought that maybe you thought I was a cry-baby and-"

"We've been practicing," Katsuki's voice came from further in the room, his tolerance for Izuku's mumbling non-existent. "Now get in here so we show it off."

Izuku stumbled in, transfixed as Shouto walked to stand next to a little bed of towels. There was a little bag in the corner of the room, sat next to a cooler. Katsuki stood in the middle nearby to the towels, and he pointed to a spot along the wall, "Sit there."

"Okay," he muttered, sitting on the ground with all the comfort of a young child should have. Belatedly, he reached for the camera and set it on, slipping it between his thighs, checking the to make sure the rest of the room as in view. Satisfied, he turned to see the other two having a small conversation-maybe-arguement.

Eventually Shouto shrugged and moved to stand beside towel pile. Izuku squinted, able to make out the sheen of what he assumed to be ice, but looked to the other two when Shouto began to speak.

"Happy birthday, Izuku," and it was only then that Izuku realized, 'Oh, this is for me, isn't it?' His eyes began to prickle with heat, but he shoved it down, determined to see whatever they had planned with as clear a vision as possible.

Shouto began to count, and he had trouble following what they were doing, but then he threw a clump of ice into the air and Katsuki lifted a hand, setting off an explosion when the ice neared him and blasting it into tiny, glittering pieces. His expression, intent and intense, gave no indication he was even aware Izuku was watching.

The counting continued, and then two ice sculptures went up, Katsuki blowing each into little fragments again. Then, seemingly even faster but Izuku knew he was the one feeling like everything was moving too fast, another three went up, and Katsuki nailed each, and Izuku could feel the tears begin to build even as he valiantly tried to stay focused on the sight in front of him.

Next, four went up at once, and Izuku's breath caught as two exploded into shining bits and-

The other two crashed to the ground in another explosion of curses, and Izuku felt a giggle session building up. Katsuki's eyes flared at him.

"What are you laughing for, huh?" He yelled, staring at where the two sculptures had fallen hard smacking noises.

"No, no, Katsuki-san, I'm just… I can't believe that you two did all of this…" The tears were beginning to fall now, the laughter fading away to his tearful beam.

"No, no, you haven't seen anything yet, forget it all, I'm going to," he turned, eyes wild as he looked to Shouto, who had moved to crouch besides Izuku when his laughter had turned to tears. "What are you doing? We need to start over!"

Shouto ignored him, procuring a small hand towel he'd brought for cleaning up the water and wiping it along Izuku's face. "We've done enough, haven't we? Can't you count, that was 8 sculptures."

Katsuki choked, eyes growing incensed as he put the pieces together. "Did you do that on purpose!" At Shouto's non-committal shrug, he stomped to the bed of towels, stuffing his hands with 8 new sculptures.

"Well then I'll do it without you," and Izuku laughed again, lighter than before and full of joy. He watched as Katsuki threw all eight into the air at once, blasting them all into tiny fragments as he shouted something akin to, "Happy birthday nerd!"

Izuku felt his tears well up as Shouto stood, hand held above him as he focused on the shards dropping down. A few of the closest shards changed shape, drifting slower. Izuku watched as one of the shards, now looking similar to a snowflake, swooped down and landed on his cheek, a frozen kiss.

He felt sobs begin to rack his body now, unable to hold back anymore. He looked up, struggling to get enough breaths in to say, "Th-thank you, K-katsuki-san," a sob, "and Shouto-sa, I mean, Shou-," his breath hitched, "Shoutan."

Izuku flushed, replaying what he said and waving his arms in exaggerated denial of what he just said. But Shouto just smiled, and said, "You can call me anything you want, Izuku."

"I. I've never given a nickname before, but… But isn't that too childish? Oh gosh, it is, I'm so-"

"Izuku," Shouto said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's fine."

"Yeah," Katsuki agreed, placing the cake on the ground between them before flopping besides Shouto and sneering, "It's so adorable, right?"

Shouto's eyes hardened, but then he smirked at Katsuki. "It is, isn't it? But it's not far for only me to have one," he gestured to Katsuki, watching Izuku's eyes light up at his implication. "He needs one too, don't you think?"

Katsuki sat up, eyes wide in alarm, "Nope, not happening, I won't-"

"How about Kacchan? It matches Shoutan…"

Izuku felt himself giggle at Katsuki's affronted look, and then Katsuki narrowed his eyes at him and he began to feel a touch nervous as the other said, "Fuck no, I don't know how you think that fits me at all but-"

"So who wants cake?" Shouto interrupted, cracking open the plastic and looking to the overtly embarrassed Katsuki. "Please tell me you bought forks?"

Katsuki glared, "Why would I give them to either of you even if I had after that trainwreck? And no, just eat it."

"How do we do that, Kacchan?" Izuku asked, distracted as he considered moving to grab out the camera to take a picture of the cake.

"Like this, idiot," he said, reaching a hand into the cake and shoving it into Izuku's face, who jumped back on instinct.

"Wait, Kacchan-"

"Stop calling me that," Katsuki said, using the moment Izuku opened his mouth to shove his hand in it. Shouto's expression pinched.

"That's disgusting."

"No more disgusting than the nicknames we just got. Why couldn't you just have made normal nicknames? Like, Shou or Katsu?" Katsuki grumbled, grabbing another fistfull of the cake.

"If you prefer those, why don't you use them?" Shouto asked, leaning forward and swiping at a side of the cake that hadn't been touched yet.

"Could… could we all use nicknames? I've never…" Izuku trailed off, unsure if he was crossing some boundary. He gave some to them, but that had been on accident.

Shouto met his eyes, "I don't see why not. I could call you something like… 'Izukun,' since you did that for ours."

"Don't take after his naming sense! Why would you base it of his and not mine?" Katsuki asked, confused and slightly offended.

"Because he'll actually use his suggestions, unlike you, so I figured using his would be better," Shouto said, calmly licking off the chocolate frosting.

Katsuki's eyes narrowed, "Is that a challenge?" he asked, sounding way too invested in such a simple manner. "I'll use them! Normal nicknames, just shortened versions of your names."

"Okay, and… if that's what you're naming by, how about I call you Kat? Like the english word for 'cat,' since you act like an enraged kitten all the time," Shouto said, and Izuku cracked up, spewing cake he'd been chewing as he laughed.

"How can I repay you two?" Izuku asked, as they cleaned up the the mess of cake and melted ice.

Shouto shook himself, turning to say, "You don't have to," but was stopped by Katsuki speaking over him, "Show me how to draw."

Shouto blinked, then realized there was no reason he couldn't learn either, and said, "Yeah, that would be good."

Izuku beamed, "I'll get the YouTube links tonight!"


	3. I Am Here, And This Is An Intervention

A thick sludge of anticipation built in Izuku's gut as he trudged slowly through the building. The ending of the previous meeting sat in the forefront of his mind.

Royama-san had mentioned that there was some extremely special guest coming, but had refused to elaborate. She'd said that the person had requested that their identity remain secret until the moment they arrived. All she would is that she knew this person personally.

Lost in anxiety, Izuku hadn't noticed exactly where he was going. It was with a not-so-small dash of panic that he realized he'd wandered into an employee only part of the center. He froze, the frigid poison of his fear of confrontation freezing over and refusing to let his limbs move. He turned around sharply, not noticing his bag strap catching onto the nearby door handle until he'd already taken a step.

His eyes widen and he stuck one hand out to catch himself- just to see another, far larger, hand catch his own and pull him up to a standing position. Izuku looked up, gulping as he realized the huge shadow to match the gargantuan hand that still held his own.

"Be careful, young one! But no worries, for I am here to catch you as you need!" His idol's wide grin blinding him with his glimmering teeth and iridescent spirit.

"I'm glad you said that," Izuku murmured as he fell forward, passed out against All Might's legs. He wasn't awake to feel All Might catch him and lift him into his arms, frantically looking for someone near to direct him to where he should bring the child.

With no one in sight, he shrugged the child further onto his shoulder and continued his way into the employees only area, searching for his friend and her lovers.

Instincts flaring, he turned just as Royama came crashing into him, stopping her with one hand while keeping the boy steady with his other one. He examined Royama's pout with a laugh, lightly ruffling her hair as he said, "Hello again, friend. It's good to see you're doing well during your leave."

Royama huffed, adjusting her hair, "As creepily nimble as ever. And my quirk's side-effect isn't as bad as the doctors are making it out to be, I swear-," finally having her hair adjusted, she cut herself off, looking at the child slung over Toshinori's shoulders. "Is that Izuku-kun?"

Relief coursed through Toshinori as he lightly pat the boy's head. "I'm not sure, I was hoping you could identify him. Do you know where I should take him? I wasn't sure where he was intending to go…"

"Ah, he's one of ours," she waved her hand, skipping slightly ahead of him as turning around to walk backwards, waving him down the hallway back into the public area. "You can just bring him to the therapy room, we'll call an ambulance is he doesn't wake up by the time the session starts."

"I see," Toshinori said, long strides easily keeping up with Royama's excited movements.

Feeling her stare, Toshinori looked up and met eyes with the woman, watching as they narrowed and she made something of a "tch," noise, "Aren't you going to ask why he's in therapy? You've never been the type to stick out of people's problems."

He winced, feeling like that of a deer caught in headlights, "I just felt it wasn't my business, as I am unsure if he would want me to know such personal details." Of course he wished to know, and of course Royama figured that out. Nishi has rubbed off on her too much.

Royama snorted, much to his surprise, "Oh, please, you're currently holding your biggest fan right now. Hell, I bet the reason you're holding him right now is because of how excited he was to meet you," she laughed at the silence that met her teasing. "He wouldn't care about you knowing, and it's pretty common stuff anyway."

Taking his continued silence as permission, she continued, "Quirkless," she missed the way Toshinori nearly stumbled, and he thanked everything for that. "Bullied for it, naturally, and isn't that depressing. Not sure he's had a single friend to speak of before he came to us," as she said this, she smiled, and Toshinori chuckled as he realized this was her using his interest to brag.

It still warmed him to know that his friend was helping children (that had once been like him) in fitting in and finding a place in this world run by electricity and super powers. "So he's found some friends, then?"

She grinned, triumphant, "Yup! Two other little boys, they all showed up on the same day. We weren't sure they'd be able to be friends at first, but honestly, they're all the cutest thing." Her smile softened, "They all want to be heroes together, though I doubt Katsuki-kun would admit to it."

"Heroes?" Toshinori questioned, examining the boy over his shoulder. "I thought you said this one was quirkless?"

Royama's smiled changed again, taking on a sadder tint, "Yes, I did. Keep quiet on that during the session, no one knows that but the coordinators, not even his friends."

Silently, Toshinori prayed for the safety of this boy when they found that out.

"But! He's one of the most determined I've ever seen. I'm not sure I've ever thought someone quirkless could become a hero until I saw this one drone on and on about strategies Present Mic used or could have used in his most recent fight for over ten minutes. Not to mention his hero complex is unparalleled," she giggled at him, "well, yours might compare, I guess."

Toshinori stared at the boy, unsure what to make of him. He sounded quite similar to a younger him, even with the bullying added in the mix. His curiousity built, he couldn't help but ask, "Well, what about his friends."

Royama shrugged, "You'll meet them soon, since we're almost there. One of them you'll likely recognize, and honestly, I doubt he'll talk to you much. The other one is… He's not the easiest, I'm sure even you'll be a bit flabbergasted with trying to handle him. He does admire you a great deal, though, so he'll likely take anything you say to heart. I'm hoping you'll be able to get through to him in ways we didn't before."

Toshinori nodded, overwhelmed but not willing to back down from this challenge. "I'll try my best, of course."

Her eyes lit up, "Your best is usually _the_ best, so I have high expectations, All Might-sama."

And she left a close to sputtering All Might on the other side of the door, laughter ringing from the other side.

~...~...~...~...~...~

Izuku awoke to a not so gentle slap with the sound of Shoutan's voice.

"Just for that, next time you fall asleep during group, I'm slapping you awake."

Despite not seeing him, Izuku knew Kacchan had just rolled his eyes, "I'll blow your hand off."

Shoutan snorted, "Sure you will," just as Izuku began to try to sit up.

"Kacchan, you can't be a hero if you hurt people," Izuku mumbled, rubbing his eyes through Kacchan's prideful, "See, the slap worked!" Izuku accepted Shoutan's hand to help sit up, glancing around his surroundings in confusion.

"So, do either of you know why I was asleep in the therapy room?" Izuku asked, rubbing the back of his neck to rid it of all the pains sleeping across multiple child sized chairs caused.

"No clue," Kacchan said, sitting in the chair Izuku had just swung his legs off of. "When we got here you were taking taking up our seats. We had to stand and watch you sleep for like, 15 minutes."

"I watched for 15 minutes. He got here not even 2 minutes ago," Shoutan interrupted. "Royama-san said to tell her when you woke up, since they would call the ambulance if you didn't wake soon."

"Except that we can't anyway, since she's locked herself in the office to chat with her 'guest.' So have fun sitting in the hospital for a few hours while they-"

"Oh holy fuck-" Izuku nearly shouted, clapping a hand over his mouth as he realized what he said. The door to the back room opened and he groaned, praying that… that, _All Might_ hadn't heard him say that. Kacchan was proving to be a terrible influence, he was noticing.

Royama's head poked out of the office, "Izuku-kun! Was that you?"

"Y-yes," Izuku murmured, squirming at the mischievously pleased grin that lit up her face.

"I would ask you to refrain from that sort of language, but we _all_ know you're not the common offender of that."

"Ah, shut up," Kacchan yelled, and Izuku just barely refrained himself from shaking the other and telling him that _All Might was in the other room, he didn't want him to hear that, did he?_

It was then that he realized the he didn't actually know that All Might was their visitor and he deflated a bit, ignoring Shoutan's confused expression in favor of pouting at the table. Then, Royama spoke up with, "Well, since Izuku is awake, we'll get started. Please give a gracious welcome to my friend, All Might!"

Izuku's head snapped up, looking to the door Royama had stepped through and now gestured at. He heard Kacchan's "That's a lie," as well as Shoutan's gasp, but his eyes were trained on the door way. Soon enough, the hulking figure of his idol stepped through, his glimmering grin the exact same as earlier.

"No fucking way," all three of them said, Kacchan much louder than the other two, but it didn't matter as All Might's booming voice overpowered theirs with ease.

"Hello, young ones! It is good to meet you all!" He stepped further into the room, taking the hushed murmurs of awe spreading through the with grace. Izuku gulped as he saw the man walk directly at him, wondering if he was being narcissistic in thinking the man was coming to speak to him.

"I apologize for making you faint earlier, but I am glad to see you look perfectly alright. Royama told me your name was Izuku-kun, yes?" He said, much quieter so that only Izuku and the others near to him could hear. Izuku could feel Kacchan's accusing, 'why didn't you tell me you met him earlier' glare, but Izuku was too star struck to properly care.

"Ah, yes, and uh," he pointed to his right and then his left, "this is Kacchan and that's Shotan, and that's-"

"Don't introduce me with that stupid nickname!" Kacchan shouted, and he reached out to grab Izuku's hair, but Shoutan reached around Izuku to grab his arm, stopping him.

"My name is Todoroki Shouto," Shoutan said, and Izuku saw a recognition light in All Might's eyes that he wasn't sure how to feel about, "and this is Bakugou Kat," he finished with a smirk. He then shook his head, as if he wasn't sure why he had just spoken.

"What the hell, you-"

"Now now," All Might said, leaning over and placing a hand on Kacchan's head, who immediately froze, trying his best not to through the hand in his hair off, "I've already been debriefed of everyone's names and background, Katsuki-kun. Being said, I'll be starting by taking a round of questions from all of you, and you're more than welcome to officially introduce yourselves to me when you ask yours."

Most of the kids just nodded, too awestruck by his presence to give any other form of answer. Kacchan seemed to reactivate the moment All Might lifted his hand to move to his own spot at the front of the table with Royama and Temko. Izuku smiled a bit, watching Kacchan place his hand over his slightly flattened his hair. He giggled as he thought that, 'Even All Might isn't strong enough to straighten his hair.'

"Everyone take your proper seats," Temko said, waiting as the few kids loitering further towards the back of the room walked over to their chairs. "Now, when you have your question, please raise your hand and All Might will point to you. Does this work for everyone?"

At everyone's nods, All Might place his hands onto the table, harshly enough to cause the table to shake and make a few of the kids yelps. His grin stayed in place despite his apologetic hand waves, "You can ask me any questions you want, though my answers may not always be what you want to hear. I must say, I'd be quite embarrassed to let a group of children know what underwear I'm wearing right now."

A few snickers sounded through the room, the humor of eight-year-olds always tickled through underpants jokes. After they died out, the room was met with silence, no one knowing who would ask the first question.

Realizing this would be potentially the only time he'd ever get to ask his idol the biggest question of his small life, his brain acted on auto-pilot as his hand raised up hesitantly. He saw Temko-san cheer slightly as she waved to at him, and she stuck her hand out to Royama who was pouting and placing 50 yen into her hand.

Izuku stood, fidgeting nervously. He had to know, this would define his life, he knew it, whatever answer he received from this man before him would change his entire viewpoint on his life so far. "I wanted to know, what you think… Can I be a hero even if I'm-"

He stopped. Despite his immobile form, his mind raced with thoughts. He can't ask this. If he does, the others - Kacchan - would know, that he's quirkless, and he'd decide Izuku wasn't good enough to be his friend, let alone a fellow _hero_. He felt his eyes prick slightly, but he forced his tears down because he couldn't make anyone here suspicious. Gathering himself, he finished his question, "C-can I be a hero, even if I'm a crybaby?"

He felt ashamed, having lied by omission to his hero. But he couldn't bring himself to take back what he said and ask what he really meant - not with the piercing red eyes staring looking back and forth between both him and his idol.

All Might seemed completely ignorant to his inner turmoil, smile firmly in place as he said, "Well, that's a perfect question for a hero-in-training," he said, and Izuku felt almost bowled over, knowing the therapists must have told him beforehand. He blushed, fidgeting underneath the praise. "You see, young Izuku, what makes a hero is not a lack of fear or suppression of emotions. No, what makes a hero a hero is their willingness and attempts to protect others despite their emotions, no matter whether they were prepared enough or previously involved."

Izuku drank in each word with an intensity he generally only felt when stood at the front lines to some hero vs. villain fights. He nodded his head, pushing down the tears he could feel attempting to well and opened his mouth to mumble a, "Thank you so much," but another voice spoke over his.

"No it's not."

~...~...~...~...~...~

Katsuki's heart rate sped up, emotions battling inside of him. He didn't know whether he was angry at himself for speaking up - for telling _All Might_ he was wrong - or angry at the words All Might had just said. He was wrong - wasn't he?

He could feel the dumbfounded gazes of everyone on him, the only one not staring in shock being Temko, who just shook her head amusedly at him. Eventually All Might seemed to overcome the shock he felt, as he finally broke the silence with, "What?"

Katsuki felt himself bristle internally, not enjoying having to explain himself. He wished people could understand what he meant without talking, words had never seemed to convey enough for him. "A hero's purpose is to win." He heard a few gasps and nearly rolled his eyes. Did these people really not know this?

All Might hadn't moved since Katsuki had answered. He seemed to be considering his answer, but eventually, he said, "And what constitutes a win for a hero?"

Katsuki blinked, confused, then frustrated as he stood and shouted, "What do you mean, constitute?"

All Might shook himself, "Ah, sorry, I meant, what does it mean for a hero to win?"

Katsuki snorted, because shouldn't he already know this? "They beat the villain."

All Might nodded his head, clearly still unsure how to respond to everything but taking it one answer at a time, "But when is the villain beaten?"

Izu finally sat down beside him, staring up to Katsuki with awe, probably astounded that he would challenge All Might. Katsuki could have laughed, because honestly, who wouldn't he challenge?

"When they're dead," Katsuki said, matter-of-a-fact, and ignored the slight flinch from both Izu and Shou beside him. "Or when the police have them."

All Might looked directly into his eyes as he next asked, "Would that hero still have won if 1000 people were killed, but the police still had the villain?"

Katsuki thought, for a slight moment, and said, "Maybe not, but that doesn't happen."

All Might still hadn't looked away, "It could, if the heroes didn't work so hard to prevent it. Now, what if it was one civilian that died?"

"That's going to happen and can be ignored," Katsuki shrugged.

The intensity in All Might's eyes only seemed to increase, "What if that person was your mother?"

Katsuki paused, thinking back to what he would do if he didn't have his mother. Less than even the anger and sadness he would feel, he knew his entire life would be ruined. He couldn't help but glance at Temko, who reminded him so strongly of his own mother, as he thought about the way his entire life was structured would be thrown upside down.

After waiting for a long pause, and still receiving no response, All Might spoke up once again, gesturing to Katsuki's right, "What if that person was Izuku-kun? Could you still say a hero did his job if captured the villain, but Izuku were to die?"

Katsuki couldn't help the glance he made to Izuku, who watched him with bated breath. Emotions he wasn't sure how to handle rose in him, as he thought about never speaking to Izuku again, or worse, listening to his final words. Not even the thought of still having his old notebooks to look through did much to ease the misery and rage the idea brought.

Still, he tried to respond, "But if the villain's caught…"

All Might nodded, "Sometimes it will happen, you're right. But other times, you will have a choice, Katsuki-kun. A villain's job may differ, but in the end their goal will always involve hurting someone. The hero's job is to prevent the villain. If you catch a villain after they've already accomplished their goal, then 'capturing' them is close to pointless. You'll have prevented further pain, but the villains will still have 'won." He paused, watching Katsuki let this sink in.

He spoke again, "A hero must make sure everyone is safe before they can do the rest of their job - if they don't, a child my lose their mother, or the mother may lose their child." Katsuki nodded, and so All Might decided to finish off with, "For the villains to win, they need power. The moment a civilian or comrade is hurt, the villains gain in power. If you want to _win,_ you must protect the people." He stopped, again, for even more dramatic flair.

Then he finished with, "A hero's job is to prevent the villains from winning - and if a villain's job is to hurt others, you prevent that."

Katsuki stared blankly towards the ground, feeling unsure in how to process everything just placed before him to think about. He knew he'd remember this for years to come - just if he remembered in it in a positive or negative way he didn't know.

As the silence once again settled like a blanket, Izu raised his hand up, once again, and asked, "Would the hero still fail if- even if the person who died was quirkless?"

Katsuki scoffed on auto-pilot, "Of course not, that wouldn't be worth the loss of capturing a villain."

Katsuki hadn't bothered to even look at his friend as he said this, meaning he didn't see the way Izu curled into himself, self-loathing lacing his twisted body. He didn't hear the barely contained sobs, but he did feel the suspicious drop in temperature. An icy hand settled on his arm, startling him into looking up and meeting mismatched eyes. "That quirkless person is still someone's mother, or child. They're still people. And if you want to be a hero, you'll protect them - not demean them."

Katsuki stared, anger at being corrected once again before the entire group rising faster than his actual processing of the words. He glared, but another hand landed on his left side, this one far more warm but much less delicate.

"Deep breaths, Katsuki-kun. Now, there are people with quirks that are unsuited for violence or protecting themselves - and you'll never know who you're saving. So don't define quirkless as different because you'll never know in the heat of the moment. And," he squeezed the hand on Katsuki's arm a bit tighter, "Shouto-kun is right. Heroes only demean villains, not the people they work to protect. It's silly to protect someone physically, but hurt them with words minutes later, isn't it? It's the _villains_ job to hurt others."

Katsuki deflated, dropping into his chair and throwing his hands up, showing his exasperation while also forcing the hands on him to let go. "Yeah, okay. I hear you, let's move on already."

The cold slowly faded, but Katsuki couldn't tell if had from his chest, just yet, as he stared at the tear tracks lingering on Izu's face.

~...~...~...~...~...~

"This will be the final question for All Might today," Temko announced, her voice showcasing her exhaustion better than her expression. By this point, most of the kids had overcome of their fears to ask the no. 1 hero questions, and the ones that hadn't had been allowed to write theirs down and submit them anonymously to All Might. After reducing that pile, they were now back to raising their hands. However, at her announcement, everyone seemed to stand at once, wanting to be the person to get the last question in.

Izuku felt a tad disappointed when he wasn't chosen, but he reasoned that since he got the first one and that question had ended up taking over 30 minutes of their two-hour long session, he probably didn't deserve it. Still, when he heard Aki's question, he couldn't help but be confused.

"How do you know Royama-san, All Might?" She'd asked, and his mouth ran without meaning to.

"It's from work, right? They fought together two years ago against the gang of support villains that had successfully created a force-shield able to withstand most impacts, right?" He asked, feeling the eyes of everyone and suddenly wanting to sink into himself.

"Right you are, Izuku-kun my boy. Since that fight, we've worked together behind-the-scenes quite a few times." All Might's grin turns toward him, and he could feel himself melting.

Almost immediately, Shoutan spoke up, "Wait, Royama-san, you're a pro-hero?"

Royama fake gasped, her hand clasping over her chest, "You mean you haven't heard of me? I'm offended, all of you," she turned to Izuku now too, gesturing at him to speak, "At least Izuku-kun here seems to know who I am. Why don't you tell everyone else here?"

Twiddling his thumbs, Izuku hesitantly said, "I-uh, she's Decayed Decade. Though, despite her name, she can both cause something to age or decay, or de-age. She's on leave because of complications caused by her quirk, and she…"

Kacchan sighed, sitting up and looking at all the confused faces surrounding them. Izuku hadn't spoken loud enough for anyone but Shou to hear.

"He said that she's Decayed Decade, her quirk is the ability to make shit age or to make it un-age, and she's on leave right now cause her quirk messed her up." He recited, far louder than Izu had, and leaned back in his seat, once again attempting to (and failing) to ignore his surroundings.

At this, most of the group stood in an uproar, shouting about how they hadn't known. All the while, Temko turned to All Might and said, "You should probably leave while this happens, otherwise there's a chance you might never get out of here."

He held up his hand, shaking his head and shouting, "I have one final message for you before I leave!" He waited until all the kids had quieted down, and then he dragged both Royama and Temko to stand beside him. "I know these people, and I believe in them quite a lot. If you ever need people whose words and guidance you know you can trust and follow, I urge you to trust in these two, as well as the other therapists here. They will not lead you astray, young ones." He let go of the two's arms, and he waved as he said, "And stay safe, all of you!"

~...~...~...~...~...~

Izuku and Shoutan sat side-by-side, knees touching, as they waited for their respective guardians to arrive and pick them up. Izuku was rambling on, and he could tell that Shoutan was lost in thought and hadn't heard him for the past few minutes, but at this point he was in too deep to try to stop himself.

Eventually, the sound of heavy footsteps came up beside them. Izuku still hadn't taken the distraction as an excuse to stop talking, however, and he kept rambling. It was only after the sound of a deep throat clearing his throat did he look beside him.

There, sitting in the same position but still managing to tower over both Shoutan and him, sat All Might. He waved gently at both of them, and Izuku hurried to stand up and bow.

"Th-thank you so much for helping me back to the room earlier, I'm so sorry for fainting on you, I promise you did nothing wrong, I just-"

"Ah, Izuku-kun my boy, you're perfectly fine. I wasn't here to speak about that, though I had been hoping to speak to you… alone," he said, looking over to Shoutan, who immediately began to stand in order to remove himself from within hearing distance.

"Ah! Wait, Shoutan!" Izuku caught his hand, then turned to All Might, speaking as clearly as he could, "If it's alright, I don't mind if he stays for the conversation? I don't think there's anything that I can know that he shouldn't be allowed to be…" He trailed off, paling as he realized that he'd just disregarded a request from his idol.

"I do not mind, but I am not sure you will be okay with it. I was hoping to speak to you about your… quirk," he said, glancing at the other boy to see his reaction.

"I know he's quirkless," Shoutan said, collected as always, and Izuku was glad he had said it, because he wasn't sure he'd be able to tell All Might that himself.

The way All Might brightened still managed to surprise him, however. "Oh, that's amazing news. I'm glad you felt you were able to be honest with at least… one of your friends."

"Um, yeah," Izuku murmured, not exactly sure where this conversation was going.

"Well, I actually didn't want to speak about that directly, but I did intend to mention it. Do you mind… telling me about how you want to be a hero?" All Might asked, in a sheepish tone that Izuku honestly had no idea how to handle.

"I, uh," Izuku stuttered, completely lost and drowning in his own thoughts.

"He has a sketch of what he wants his costume to look like," Shoutan said, and Izuku whirled around, staring at him wide-eyed. "It's based of you a lot, I think."

The stare turned into a slight glare, at least, it seemed like a glare, in an "Izuku Midoriya" way.

All Might brightened a bit, "Yes, yes, I'd love to see that! But, I more meant… why do you want to be a hero?"

Izuku bit his lip, trying to decide the best way to answer his idol. "I. I fell in love with the way you smiled when you saved people. I've always wanted to be… capable to save people, like that, no matter the situation… I just, I really want to stop people from getting hurt, as much as possible." Internally, he admitted that the years of bullying probably fed into this desire. Outwardly, he just did his best to smile at the man.

All Might nodded, quite cryptically in Izuku's opinion, and turned to Shoutan, "And you?"

Shoutan paused, then shrugged. Both Izuku and All Might waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't say anything, seeming to be pulled back into thoughts the moment All Might began to speak again.

"Ah, well, I'm to hear that. I… believe great things can be in your future, young Izuku-kun," Izuku felt like the air had been punched out of his lungs. "That's why, I was hoping you two could keep a little secret?" He winked.

Izuku nodded, his head flying at a faster pace than he had ever agreed to something before. All Might laughed, and then asked, "Do you have a pen and paper of sorts?"

He nodded again, digging through his backpack, pulling out his notebook on Kacchan and Shoutan (now titled as such) and digging through his pencil case until he procured a pencil, apologizing profusely that it was a pencil and not a pen. All Might waved him off, taking the procured items and scribbling something down on one of the final few pages.

"This is my personal phone number and email. This needs to be kept from the public for obvious reasons, but I'm going to entrust this to you two. I would like for you to call me if you ever need anything, or text me if you can't call. You could also text or email me for fun, though I can't promise I'd give you much of a fun response in return." He smiled, patiently holding the book out to Izuku still.

Izuju gazed at the book, dazed and amazing by this turn of events. How was the happening? What would he even say? How could he even…

"Wait, All Might! I… I don't have a phone yet, I won't be able to use this, I'm so sorry," he wailed, hating the idea that he was rejecting consistent contact with his idol.

All Might laughed, "My boy, emails are free, you can ask your mother to set you up with one once you're home. As for the phone number, just text me with a picture of yourself once you get a phone. I'll save your number immediately following." He looked up to Shouto, who had watched the exchange in silence, "You're more than welcome to this information as well. I suppose I'll even allow you to share it with Katsuki-kun, so long as he promises not to spread it."

Izuku watched as Shoutan nodded, his face a mix of surprise and joy, but when he spoke his voice had a slightly sad tint to it, "Thank you, All Might."

All Might stood. He reached out and ruffled both of the two's hair, then turned around and took a stance of that of jumping. "Well, I shall hope to see you two soon! Plus Ultra!" And with that, he took off.

Izuku's entire body began to vibrate, and he barely held in a squeal as he took in the sight of the number and email written in neat characters.

Beside him, Shoutan stared at the book as well, his body vibrating as he struggled to hold in his sobs.


	4. How Do Child?

September: Shouto- 8, Izuku- 8, Katsuki- 8

Shouto had never intended to utilize the private service offered by the therapists. He'd never even seen any of the kid's use it; he had an inkling that it was a feature more meant for older patients, at least those in their teens. He thanked everything for his generally impassive face, because he wasn't sure he'd go through with it if Izukun or Kat started pestering him before he'd even requested a private time.

And that's what he stood before the therapist's door for. During group, the therapist's not leading it were open for private conversation and guidance in adjacent offices. You could reserve an appointment with one, but otherwise, it was a "first-come-first-serve" sort of service. And now, he hesitated just outside one of the doors, fears building despite the conviction All Might had lit inside of him.

"Shoutan?" Izukun questioned, and Shouto barely withheld a jolt in surprise. He turned to look at the confused look the other was giving him, and he pursed his lips. "Why are you waiting? Weren't you just asking Yasui-san something?"

Should he lie? He'd half-lied already, and it Izukun had caught him out in that. He glanced to Kat, curious in how he was managing to not have already blown up in impatience. He still wasn't sure how he was being so patient, Kat's hands were curled into fists and he wasn't looking at the door.

"Just go inside already, we'll follow, fuck's sake," Katsuki muttered. Shouto blinked, surprised at the reassurance he felt in their promised presence. He nodded, then walked forward, knocking lightly then opening the door before he received a real response.

As he walked in, Yasui-san and Temko-san jumped apart, looking slightly guilty, as if he didn't know or cared about their private relationship. If there was one thing he'd learned from years of his (abusive, his mind whispered) family life, it was that private relationships are no one's business.

Though, he supposed he was just about to screw up his own idea.

Temko-san cleared her throat, and he could hear Izukun giggle slightly at the red tinting Yasui cheeks. He never thought much about the relationship between the coordinators, he just knew it was a strange one. Kat had said the most about it between the three of them, which amounted to, "weirdos," but he'd also said the same thing when he'd seen a mother and father who'd dropped off their child kiss, so Shouto feels safe in the knowledge that he just considers all affection as strange.

"What is it, you three? We can't let you borrow the quirk room today, there's a self-defense class going on in there today," Temko-san said, clearly trying to brush off her awkwardness and take back the lead in the conversation, which she usually claimed.

A moment of silence lasted until Kat pointed to Shouto, successfully throwing the conversation in his friend's direction as he said, "This one had something to ask him, he hasn't said what, so don't look at us."

Feeling the eyes of the entire room, he reminded himself that he trusted these people, he's known them for over three months now and that anything said would be sworn to confidentiality either way. Steeling himself with the will he's seen Kat defend a misremembered fact, or Izukun the importance of different heroes involvement in fights, he stepped forward, looking directly to Yasui-san, and said, "Could I speak to you in a private session?"

Yasui-san blinked, taken aback, but recovered themself with the ease of a professional. "Of course, we'll just need to move into this office here," they pointed one of the two rooms that were used for these private discussions.

Shouto nodded, moving over to the room, but stopped as he heard Temko-san say, "Alright, you two, I'm sure Shouto-kun appreciates the escorting, but your job is over now. Shoo, shoo," she said, waving them to the room for group.

"Ah, Temko-san," Izukun said, maneuvering around her to grab onto Shouto's arm. "Can we not go with him?" The warmth of his body pressed against his right side made him sigh. He knew that the more anxious he got, the more his ice powers tended to act up. Likely since his nerves usually only came from Endeavor, and his ice was the only defense he had from him.

Temko-san's lips curled, "Shouto-kun must give permission for you to join, Izuku-kun." She reached down to ruffle his hair, meeting eyes with Yasui-san as she grabbed Kat's and his arms and began to bring them with her to the outside room.

"B-but," Izukun protested, planting his feet a bit firmer, which Kat also did upon noticing, "you haven't asked if he wants us here or not." He bit his lip, looking over his shoulder to Shouto as if to check that protesting was the right course of action.

Shouto shivered, his right side cooling the room to the point that he could see Kat conspicuously rub his hands together, then he walked out the open door to general room. Shouto felt his chest tighten as he watched his disappearing figure, knowing his patience must have run thin. Yasui-san stepped forward, drawing Shouto's attention to them as they asked, "Do you want them to stay with you for the duration? It is entirely up to you."

Shouto curled into himself a touch, wondering if this is how cold he'd made the room and he was used to the feeling of ice coating his body, then how terrible was it to the rest of them? Izukun had begun to shiver now, and for the first time in an extremely long while, he wished he could use his fire abilities properly. Would he freeze them if they came in with him? Wasn't he a danger to Yasui-san like this, whose quirk was dragonfly attributes? Don't they need warmer temperatures? And-

Boom.

The explosion halted his thoughts. Everyone's heads flipped toward the entrance to the room to kat, who held his hands before him, panting as he focused on creating miniature explosions in his palms. He walked around the room, setting off sporadic explosions. He stopped before Shouto, shrugging his shoulders back a bit, "You're lucky I sweat so easily, dipshit. Now," he panted again, clearly out of breath due to… whatever it was he left the room to do, and Shouto could feel his nerves relax slightly as he realized he hadn't truly pissed the boy off, "are we going in there?"

Shouto hesitated for another second, then reached out, grabbing Izukun forearm and dragging him lightly with him. He turned to Yasui-san to say, "They can stay, I don't mind them… knowing," he murmured the final word. In truth, he knew he'd feel more confident with them there. Probably.

~...~...~...~...~...~

The room inside was a mix of neutral and popping colors. The main couch was a jet black, with a cyan recliner beside it, and across from both sat a desk with a hulking desk chair behind it. Shouto squirmed, trying to get settled onto the couch he'd pulled both himself and Izukun onto. He saw Izukun scooch closer to him, patting the spot beside himself for Kat to sit in, but Kat just turned his nose up and sat on the recliner, legs crossed underneath him.

As Yasui grabbed a few sheets of paper from the desk, Shouto took a few moments to admire the pieces of art along the walls, ranging for professional paintings to drawings done by the patients. A particularly colorful wall was covered in drawings of different heroes, though most of the drawings depicted All Might. Seeing the man that had pushed him to do this both tore him up internally, but also gave him reassurance that what he was about to say was true.

"So," Yasui-san started, tapping their pencil obnoxiously against the paper they held before themself. "What is it you wished to discuss, Shouto-kun?"

Shouto felt himself begin to copy the tapping motion, just slightly, with his hand against his thigh. He stared into the distance for a few moments, long enough for Izukun to gain the confidence to reach out so that his hand laid on Shouto's leg where Shouto had previously been tapping. He stopped, then continued again as he spoke, "When All Might visited last week… What he said… It made me realize my dad really isn't a hero - especially not to me."

With that said, he paused, taking a deep breath. He felt a small tug on his fingers, and then Izukun was in his face, trying to see where this conversation was going. Shouto just stared back at him, because how could he explain without explaining it aloud, as he was just about to.

"I see," Yasui-san said, scribbling down a few words to the paper beneath. Looking up, they asked, "Could you explain?"

Nodding, Shouto began to tap again, unthinking of the pattern he was tapping out. He almost wanted to say, 'All Might knew Izuku for two hours and he was already a better father to him than mine's ever been to me,' but figured that wasn't what Yasui-san expected, and likely would cause more questions than it answered. Plus, he'd have to acknowledge that aloud.

"My father has never been concerned with… protecting me, or my family. If anything he tends to… hurt us, more than protect. And when he's working as a hero… he cares much more about the recognition he gains from being a hero then he does about the people." He took a deep breath, trying to reassure himself that this conversation would do nothing but make others aware of the situation.

Yasui-san seemed to think for a moment, before they asked, "By hurt… what do you mean?"

Despite his best efforts, Shouto felt the temperature begin to drop on his right side. There was no answer to this that wouldn't reveal anything, unless he were to lie, but that would defeat the entire purpose of beginning this discussion. At the same time, danger lurked within every corner of the topic.

Suddenly Kat stood, marching over to the right of Shouto. He gestured impatiently at Izukun, who speedily grabbed Shouto's arm and dragged him to the left. Kat plopped down, running his hands through his hair and coming at with tiny bits of sweat in the cool room. He set off more tiny explosions, once again heating up the room to a manageable temperature.

Shouto couldn't help flinching at the noises, the explosions much too close for his comfort. The three were now squashed together on the couch, all bunched up and pressed together. Shouto found himself both relaxing into them, while still feeling uncomfortable with such close contact. Izukun's light pat to his leg and concerned eyes drew his mind back to the question at hand.

"I… he trains me," he began, "and he says that since no villain would ever hold back, that he shouldn't either, which is true, so I don't know why I'm telling you this."

"You are eight years old, Shouto-kun. And you are not making this sound as though it's a recent development. Does he hit you? With how much force?" Yasui-san said, voice firm but expression kind.

"I… yes, of course he does," he mumbled, hands clenching when he heard Izuku gasp slightly. "The first time was when I was 4, not long after my quirk-, no, both of my quirks developed. My mother tried to stop him, but he shoved her away," he said, voice lowering as he mentioned his mother. Funnily enough, it wasn't until she was mentioned that he could feel the water building behind his eyes.

Yasui-san nodded, their face neutral as they listened. "So your mother has tried to stop this before?"

Shouto shuddered, another explosion ringing out as the room started to cool down. He shook his head to clear out the echoing noise within it, and garnered enough of himself to answer, "She used to. She's been in the hospital since," his breathing shook, "since she poured boiled boiling water over my left eye."

He could hear feel Kat's intake of breath, and winced slightly as Izukun's nails dug into the arm he was still holding. He couldn't help the slight amusement and gratitude as he thought about how Izukun was far more affected by his story than he himself was.

Yasui-san spoke then, quieter, "Do you know why she did that?"

Shouto felt something break, just a bit, as he shook his head no, shoulders heaving in the quiet way he tried to hold back his sobs.

Yasui-san nodded, and they reached over to set the paper and clipboard onto the desk."I spoke to your aunt, prior to you ever working with this office. She explained to me, pieces of your history, but not much. She did say, however, that the reason she was acting as your guardian is because your father would never allow you to be here under his watch. I'm sure you know that, but your aunt also spoke of your mother. Your aunt said that your mother, when admitted to the hospital, had begged her to watch over you, and to make sure that your father could not hurt you too badly."

Yasui-san paused, watching as Shouto processed this, his mind overloaded by the most information he's heard about his mother for over three years.

"She said that your mother has been wanting to speak to you since the day she was admitted, but was afraid you'd hate her, rightfully so, for what she'd done."

"Of course not," Shouto whispered, staring at his hands.

He felt Kat shift beside him, and looked up when he was prodded by a finger in his side, "Why not? She hurt you, right?"

Shouto blinked at him, trying to find the words to respond, but Izukun did it for him, "She hadn't meant to hurt him, right?"

Shouto sat, fidgeting under everyone's gaze as he tried to find an answer. "I'm not… sure, she… she never liked my left side… It reminded her of my father, I think."

Yasui-san interrupted them, "You said your father hurt her as well, yes? Do you know how much?"

Shouto shook his head, he had heard their fights, but the only time he'd seen her get hurt was when she defended him.

Yasui-san nodded, "I don't believe she intended to harm you, though I cannot be sure. Have you spoken to her since… this happened?"

"No," he said, staring at the ground before him.

"Would you like to speak to her again?" Yasui-san asked, and Shouto felt his body stiffen dramatically.

"I," he started, feeling adrenaline begin to course through him at just the idea, "Yes, but there's no way for me to, not without father discovering…"

"But… you're here, right?" Izukun asked, turning Shouto's attention to him. "Your father doesn't know you're here… why would the hospital be any different?"

"The hospital tracks who enters and exists, father could learn from that, that I…"

"No he couldn't," Kat scoffed, "Not if you went with an adult, they only mark down the adults who enter. I did it with grandma last year."

"This is true, Shouto-kun," Yasui murmured. "If you were to speak to your aunt, I'm sure you could get in under her name, however, that decision is entirely up to you - and I had another question, if you don't mind."

Shouto's blinked, his world having felt flipped by this point. His mother could be open to seeing him, and he was allowed, and he - he still hadn't given Yasui-san any indication to continue speaking. "Okay."

"Your aunt mentioned that you recently began to have a tendency to only mention and acknowledge one aspect of your abilities. You did it earlier too, even though you corrected yourself. Does this have anything to do with your… family?"

Shouto hadn't been able to stop himself from tensing, and he knew that Yasui-san had noted it, and he had to curse himself for accidentally preventing himself from lying even before he spoke. "I… My parents married due to a quirk marriage. My father wants me to be the perfect, um, tool? For him by having the abilities I do… I can't really leave my father, I need him, but I don't… want to use the quirk that has caused my family so much pain."

Yasui-san nodded, their lips pursed, but they remained silent. Shouto nearly sighed in relief, but then the hand on his leg squeezed a bit, and Izukun spoke, "That's silly, it's your ability, right? It's different from your dad's…"

"It's not silly," Yasui-san cut in, "however, Izuku-kun is right. It is yours to do with as you like. That could include never using it, or having a constant fire burning in your left palm. And what you chose to do should be chosen regardless of your father."

"If you want to be a hero," Kat huffed, "then you can't always be at half-power."

Feeling cornered, Shouto curled his hands up a bit, the cold growing in the room until Kat growled and another miniature explosion lit the air.

"No one is saying you need to, Shouto-kun. But, if it came down to rejecting your father, or saving Izuku-kun and Katsuki-kun's lives, which would you chose?"

Shouto shuddered, trying not to think about a time he would have that much weight put in his hands. He's not sure he'd ever be able to withstand that - then thought about how, if they all became heroes, he'd have to handle that pretty often.

For the first time, he found himself glad for Izukun's quirklessness. That was one less reckless pro-hero to worry about in the future.

"I wouldn't need saving," Kat snarled, to which Izukun giggled, but he soon wilted beneath Kat's glare.

"Or," Yasui-san continued, as if they hadn't heard the side-conversation in any way, "You could use it to do more simple things, like warming up this room. Katsuki-kun is doing a fine job of that right now, but you're not going to be always together, you know."

Shouto winced, but nodded. It's true, he'd had to leave rooms before because of how cold he'd forced the temperature to drop. It wasn't something he did constantly, only when upset, but given the constant unpleasantness of his home, he did it to his room often.

"Now, enough of all this. Is this all you wanted to say, Shouto-kun?" At Shouto's nod, Yasui-san clasped his hands together. "Then do I have your permission to tell the other therapists about this?"

Shouto hesitated, afraid of getting more people involved than needed, but eventually nodded again, keeping his head to face the ground. He heard shuffling, and jolted as a large hand settled on his hair.

"Then, I'll be sure to discuss out possibilities with them. But before that, I would like to ask you: do you plan to go visit your mother? You will be excused from paying for the upcoming Thursday for group if you wish to do so and tell me now." Yasui-san said, a slight smile tilting their cheeks.

He sat in silence for a while, terrified still at the thought that his mother truly didn't want to see him, or that his father could find out and officially ban him from seeing her. Lost in anxiety as he was, he missed the exchange of glances between his friends.

"Um," Izukun began, then paused as he glanced to Kat, trying to read anything besides "indifferent contempt" in his expression. Not getting anything, he just looked shyly to Shouto and asked, "We could come with you?"

Shouto's heart sat in his throat, but he gathered himself enough to quietly say, "Sure," to the bright green eyes of his friend. He felt Kat scoff as another explosion sounded from the right side of the couch.

~...~...~...~...~...~

September: Shouto- 8, Izuku- 8, Katsuki- 8

"Come on," Kasumi-san huffed, pulling the car into a cramped parking spot at an angle that would piss off any people trying to use the neighboring spots. "We're here, all three of you out of the car."

Izuku hurried out, shuffling awkwardly as he waited for Kacchan - who had been forced into the middle, which he'd complained about enough for Shoutan to threaten to freeze his mouth shut - to climb out behind him so he could shut the door. It had been a cramped fit, since none of them had been big enough to ride in the front, but at least the three of them were still small enough to not be squished on top of one another.

"Alright, we'll go to the front desk so I can explain why I have three children with me," she moved to the edge of the pavement. "Hold hands as we cross the street."

Seeing the bristling Kacchan's hair began to do, Izuku slipped closer to Shoutan, grabbing his hand and both of them watching with amusement as Kasumi-san grabbed Kacchan's, despite the sparking going off in his left palm. She then reached over and grabbed Izuku's as well, her hand warmer than Izuku's thought it would be.

The walked inside was filled with mutters from Kacchan as he was dragged by an uncaring Kasumi through the doors. She approached the front desk alone, motioning for the three to wait a little bit off. She spoke quickly to the staff, and soon walked back with three name tags and a pen.

"You can all write the Kanji for your names, yes?" At the answering nods and scoff, she passed out the white sheets and gave the pen to them. After she had Shoutan return, they began their trek up to the fifth floor.

"So, do you want us to wait outside?" Izuku asked, looking to both Shoutan and Kasumi-san, unsure just how welcome Kacchan's and his presence truly was. Generally, only family and friend's visited those in a hospital, not someone's child's friends whom they have likely never heard of before.

Shoutan just shrugged at him, and Izuku honestly couldn't tell if the cold air was normal for the hospital, or if Shotan had unconsciously begun to cool the air again. Either way, Kasumi answered for him.

"I planned to walk in first, tell her other guests were here, have Shouto come in, and after they speak for as long as Shouto wants, he'd walk back out to get you two," she said, glancing to Shoutan, "Is that alright?"

Shoutan continued to walk as if he hadn't heard anything, but eventually, he said a soft, "Yes."

A few minutes later Kasumi stopped outside of a door, gesturing them to stand slightly adjacent to the frame so as not to be seen in the doorway. She pat Shoutan's hair, looking the other two in the eyes, and then opened the door to walk through, leaving it wide open so as to be able to be heard.

"Hello, sis," Kasumi-san said, her heels clacking against the floor for another moment.

"Kasumi!" A new voice piped in, and Izuku watched as Shoutan's composed face crumbled a bit. He reached out, slipping his hand around Shoutan's arm and awkwardly rubbing it. He made a gesture for Kacchan to do the same and sniffed slightly when all the other did was knock onto the side of both Shoutan and Izuku's head none-too-gently.

"How are you? Well, I suppose we just spoke two hours ago. What about the kids? Is Fuyumi eating right, I know you said last time that she'd been trying to lose weight she didn't need to, and I was wondering if-"

Izuku could feel the words begin to swirl around his head, the easy conversation between siblings a completely foreign concept for him. He felt Shoutan tense a bit more, and then a warm hand curled onto his own. Izuku stared at it, feeling a smile tip his lips as he met Shoutan's mismatched, nervous eyes. As the hand holding his arm began to tap, he couldn't help his slight chuckle - and then he froze, reaching up to cover his mouth with his unoccupied hand. He could hear Kacchan mumbling, "idiot," behind him. He didn't want to risk pointing out that Kacchan saying that defeated the point of scolding for not being silent.

Tuning back into the conversation to see if they had heard him, he had to stop himself from sighing in relief when he heard it continuing as normal. "And what about Shouto? Endeavor hasn't been-"

"Ah," Kasumi interrupted, and Izuku wished he could see her face to know how she took that. Instead, he glanced to Shoutan again, examining the twisted expressed on his face, likely from hearing his mother say his name for the first time in years. "Most of why I'm here has to do with Shouto, actually, since-"

"Is he okay?" the voice sounded far more panicked, and Izuku felt the nails from the hand holding his arm dig into it.

"Yes, yes, he's fine. As I've mentioned, the therapy seems to have helped him quite a bit, and… well, I guess you'll see for yourself."

Clearly this was an invitation for Shoutan to walk inside, but a moment of silence passed, followed by another, and eventually, the voice asked, "Huh?"

Meanwhile, Izuku had begun to make frantic hand motions in front of Shoutan's face, seeing that he'd stopped moving entirely. The temperature had dropped dramatically, but Shoutan gave no sign of having recognized this. Another moment passed of this before Kacchan had apparently gotten fed up.

"Oh, just go in there, she's your mother, not your father remember," he said, much louder than the previous mutter, and he reached over and shoved Shoutan towards the door.

Of course, Izuku, who Shoutan still had ahold of and was closer to the door anyway, got tangled up in the shove as well. They crashed down, in full view of through the door, and Izuku felt a new sort of panic as he realized the plan had been entirely destroyed. He rushed to stand, gingerly reaching to Shoutan to help him up. Once the boy was standing, Izuku bowed, fully at the waist, and said, "I'm sorry to intrude, I didn't plan to, but uh, here's your son, he wanted to talk to you and-"

His mumbling was cut off at the sound of a chair screeching. He looked up to see the woman before him standing, her long white hair drifting behind her as she took a few steps closer. "Shouto," she breathed, and Izuku watched as Shoutan hesitantly stepped forward.

"Hello, mother," he said, equal in tone, but still made no move to step any closer. In fact, he stuck himself a bit further into Izuku's space.

Seeming to have only half-recovered herself, Shoutan's mother stopped a few feet away, looking down to the small boy with a curious wonder. "Oh, sweetheart, I'm so… It's great to see you," she said, timidly raising her arm. "Is it okay if I…"

Izuku didn't really understand what she meant, but Shoutan seemed to, as he nodded - or maybe he was just too afraid to say no.

Still, he only barely flinched when her hand came up to rest on his face, and she said, "Oh my. You've... You've grown. It's lovely to see your face again," she paused, her lip quivering as she mumbled, "all of your face," her finger lightly traced the coarse scar on the left side of his face, "and hair, and eyes, and…"

Shoutan cracked. He stepped forward, wrapping his right arm, tentatively, around her waist and he buried his face into the crook of it. Izuku had been forced to step forward as well, Shouto having grabbed him prior to stepping forward.

Slowly they detangled, and Shouto's mother motioned them further into the room. She stood by her bed, gesturing for Shouto take it if he wanted. Nodding, he sat down in it. She turned to Izuku, who jolted and gestured wildly to the door, "I'll, um, get Kacchan!"

He barely saw her confused face before he hurried outside, seeing Kacchan leaning against the wall. He moved to stand beside him, feeling flustered and lost. He waited for a few moments, hearing conversation begin to start in the room again, and then Kacchan hand clapped around his hair. "Come on, loser."

Izuku pouted at him, but quickly stiffened when they entered the room again. Kasumi stood by the window, playing onlooker to the mother who sat on the seat, and her son, who sat across from her on the bed. Izuku planted his feet, believing they would stand just inside the room, but Kacchan, the attention whore he is, dragged them further. Still holding onto Izuku's hair, he couldn't help the slight yelp he gave and he was tugged towards the bed and shoved onto it, his face falling into Shoutan's lap.

"Kacchan," he whined, sitting up and rubbing at his hair and glaring at the boy, who calmly took a seat to Shouto's right. He distantly wondered if that would become their new seating arrangement, with Shoutan in the middle instead of him.

"You were watching outside like a creep," Kacchan muttered, and he sat up just in time to catch Shoutan's slight smile.

Shoutan's mother gave a slight huff of confusion, and Izuku bolted upright, twisting so he more properly sat on the bed and looking up at the woman through scared eyes.

The woman smiled warmly, her white hair tilting to the side as she shifted her head to face Izuku, "I'm Michiko. It's good to meet you."

Izuku froze, staring to the woman in bewilderment. Kasumi-san shifted, then began to speak, "These two boys are the kids Shouto has met through therapy that I told you about. I'd allow them to introduce themselves, but I'm not sure which nickname they'd use for that," she grinned, and Izuku felt a slight burn in his cheeks.

"Katsuki Bakugou," Kacchan said, gruffly, without any of the normal formalities. Izuku would have smacked him, but he figured public abuse of his friend was more impolite than what Kacchan hadn't said.

"Izukun - I mean, Izuku Midoriya. It's good to meet you, please treat me kindly," he murmured, feeling the bed shift at the slight chuckle that Shoutan let out when Izuku actually had almost introduced himself with his nickname. "Shoutan," he whined, poking the other lightly on the part between his hair.

Michiko-san giggled, pleased to see her anti-social boy interacting in a friendly way to the other kids. "Shoutan?" she asked, questioning internally if it was still too early to begin with the teasing again already.

Then again, she had waited 3 years. And she had waited 8 to see Shouto make a friend, she figured she had plenty of embarrassing teasing to catch up on.


End file.
